Fazbear's Gauntlet
by HeavenStar88
Summary: One by one, week by week, the Smashers line up to take a shot at being a security guard at the newly re-opened Freddy Fazbear's Pizza in a series of one-shots detailing how long they each last and their fates thereafter. You, the reader, get to help decide who should go in next.
1. Fazbear's Gauntlet: Introduction

Introduction

HELP WANTED

Freddy Fazbear's Pizza  
Family pizzeria looking for security guard to work the nightshift.  
12 am to 6 am.

Monitor cameras, ensure safety of equipment and animatronic characters.

Not responsible for injury/dismemberment.

$72 a night.  
To apply, call:  
1-888-FAZ-FAZBEAR

The phone rang in the management office, the only sign of a response being the voice at the other end of the line.

"Hey, man. Okay. I've got some news for you. Applicants have been pouring in like crazy. Dude, this could really restart the establishment. Now, this one cluster of applicants in particular caught my eye. They all say they're crazy qualified. I, uh, might even say over qualified in some cases, but that's beside the point. There's about 50 or so, and they all want to be security guards on the shift, but obviously, we don't have enough room in our staff for them all. Here's this crazy idea, man. Why don't we give them each a sort of trial week? If they do well, they can stay. If not...well, you know the rest. Uh, not sure where all the mechanics have gone, though. Probably still spooked about the whole 'ghosts of the five dead children' thing. But from what I've heard, they've all just...you know, passed on by now...however that works. So, I'll go ring them up and then we'll talk back. Okay? Okay. Gotta go, man. Talk to you soon."

Needless to say, the steady stream of applicants who entered Freddy Fazbear's Pizza throughout the following year made for some...interesting escapades in their runs as security guards...

* * *

So, who should be a security guard?

Mario  
Donkey Kong  
Link  
Samus  
Kirby  
Pikachu  
Fox  
Yoshi  
Ness  
Captain Falcon  
Luigi  
Jigglypuff  
Bowser  
Marth  
Zelda/Sheik  
Peach  
Falco  
Ganondorf  
Mewtwo  
Mr. Game and Watch  
Pit  
Olimar  
Toon Link  
King DeDeDe  
Meta Knight  
Diddy Kong  
Wario  
Lucario  
Charizard  
R.O.B.  
Ike  
Sonic  
Villager  
Mega Man  
Wii Fit Trainer  
Greninja  
Rosalina and Luma  
Little Mac  
Pac Man  
Robin  
Shulk  
Palutena  
Dark Pit  
Lucina  
Duck Hunt  
Bowser Jr.  
Lucas


	2. Entrant 1: Mario

Entrant 1: Mario

**Night 1**

12 AM

"Hmm..." hummed the portly, mustachioed plumber, sitting in the creaky swivel chair. He roved his sky blue eyes between the two open security doors, the monitor, and the whirring desk fan, and then rested his glove on the antiquated phone as it rang.

"Hello, hello?" the message began. "Uh, I wanted to record a message for you to help you get settled in on your first night. Um, I actually worked in that office before you. I'm finishing up my last week now, as a matter of fact. So, I know it can be a bit overwhelming, but I'm here to tell you there's nothing to worry about. Uh, you'll do fine. So, let's just focus on getting you through your first week. Okay?"

Mario didn't pay much attention to the phone caller as he droned on, instead focusing more on the battery indicator blipping at the lower left corner of the monitor. "99%," it read.

The monitor itself showed three human-sized anthropomorphic animatronics: a brown bear with a black top hat, a lavender bunny with a red bowtie, and a yellow duck-like chicken with a white bib that read "LET'S EAT!" in bold, yellow type.

"Freddy, Bonnie, and Chica, I'm guessing," muttered Mario.

A crude, 8-bit mini map of the entire building adorned the lower right corner, which Mario tapped with his white-gloved finger to flip between views of each room. As he flipped back to the view of the show stage, he noted that the bunny animatronic had begun to move.

"So, just be aware, the characters do tend to wander a bit," continued the man on the phone. "Uh, they're left in some kind of free roaming mode at night. Uh...Something about their servos locking up if they get turned off for too long."

"I know where this is going," muttered Mario as he turned off the monitor and stood up from his chair. Trotting to the doorway to his left, he peeked out of the office and stared down the dimly lit West Hall. The lone fluorescent light bulb at the far end flickered with a series of buzzing noises, barely illuminating the crude drawings adorning the walls.

"Uh, now concerning your safety," continued the man on the phone as Mario walked to check the similarly lit and decorated East Hall, "the only real risk to you as a night watchman here, if any, is the fact that these characters, uh, if they happen to see you after hours probably won't recognize you as a person."

"They'll-a try to kill me. I know," said Mario to himself. "It always-a happens." With that, he returned to his chair and roved his head between the security doors flanking him. Beside each one, he saw a pair of large, square buttons, a red one labeled "DOOR" and a white one labeled "LIGHT".

"So, you could imagine how having your head forcefully pressed inside one of those could cause a bit of discomfort...and death." continued the man on the phone.

"Yes, I've dealt with homicidal everything-a you can imagine for more than-a 30 years," said Mario. "This is nothing new to me."

"Y-Yeah, they don't tell you these things when you sign up. But hey, first day should be a breeze. I'll chat with you tomorrow. Uh, check those cameras, and remember to close the doors only if absolutely necessary. Gotta conserve power. Alright, good night."

The phone clicked into deathly silence save for the electrified hum of the monitors and the whir of the desk fan.

"Normally, I'd just-a torch those animatronics if they attacked me," said Mario, "but that's against the rules here...and...why am I talking-a to myself? Am I going-a crazy?"

His nervous laughter trailed off as he reactivated the monitor and viewed the Dining Hall, where Bonnie had begun his slow trek to the office. "98%", the power indicator read.

4 AM

"21%," the power indicator read as Mario glimpsed the purple cylinder curtain of Pirate's Cove through the monitor. Staring back at him was the face of a crimson fox with an eyepatch flipped open above his right eye.

"Foxy's looking to start his attack, I see," said an unnerved Mario, lowering the monitor just in time to see Chica outside the East security door. He pressed the red button to lower it and then about-faced to lower the West security door as Bonnie approached. He conjured a small fireball in his palm to illuminate the office and peek outside each window until Bonnie and Chica had retreated. He then clenched his fist and doused the fireball.

"That's-a funny," he said. "No fire alarm." His eyes fell on the assorted garbage-including soda cups, napkins, old papers, and rejected drawings-lying about the office desk and floor as he raised the security doors. "Hey. That-a gives me an idea!"

He scooped up some of the garbage, lowered the West security door, and set his pile in a crude pyramid at the near corner of the East Hall. With another fireball conjured, he set the garbage pile ablaze.

"Got to make sure the building doesn't-a burn down," he said to himself as he repeated the process in the West Hall, seemingly taking only passing notice of the deep, maniacal laughter of Freddy.

Returning to the monitor, he glimpsed Freddy standing at the far end of the East Hall. Nonchalantly, he shut the East door yet again. His eyes fell back on the monitor and then widened.

Foxy was gone.

He hurried to the West door and slapped the button to shut it. A second later, he heard a series of loud thuds through the door as Foxy tried in vain to enter. Looking out the window to see Foxy retreating, he wiped his brow with the back of his hand. He looked to the monitor again but found himself face to face with a lifeless golden bear animatronic suit similar to Freddy slumped in front of the desk. He shut his eyes and shook his head, but when he opened his eyes, the Golden Freddy suit disappeared.

"Mamma mia," he said as he checked the power. "What was that?"

"5%," the power indicator read.

He raised both doors to check the fires, both of which were burning low. To his dismay, he found nothing else he could burn to stoke them. Freddy's low, maniacal laughter rang through the halls again, forcing Mario to check the East Hall.

5 AM

"0%," the power indicator read.

The lights turned off, the doors sprang open, and all the animatronics stopped in their tracks. The balefully cheerful chime of a music box rang through the halls, heralding Mario's imminent doom. For the first time in what felt like over 30 years of besting dragon turtle, ape, alien, virus, moon, spike, demon clown, and all other manner of nasty the video game multiverse had thrown at him before, he felt helpless.

"No," he whispered, steeling himself to hurl a fireball into the face of whichever animatronic would dare attack him. "It's-a me, Mario, and I won't-a go down without a fight."

But then...

6 AM

The doorbell of the morning signaled the end of Mario's first-and only-night at Freddy Fazbear's Pizza. He quit on the grounds of not being paid enough to put up with the animatronics.


	3. Entrant 2: Dark Pit

Entrant 2: Dark Pit

**Night 1**

12 AM

The dark-winged angel stood before the desk and pinched his chin as he scanned the merchandise laid out thereupon. His red eyes narrowed to lazy slits as they stopped on the ringing phone.

"Hello, hello?" began the message from the other end of the line. "Uh, I wanted to record a message for you to help you get settled in on your first night."

"Yeah, yeah. Heard it before," grumbled Dark Pit, turning to the each door flanking the desk.

"You might want to pay attention," the voice of the goddess Viridi echoed in his head. "This could explain a critical detail about the animatronics-which, I might add, are a slap in the face to real animals everywhere."

"What's there to tell? The animatronics roam around at night to keep their servos from locking up, and if they see me after hours, they'll think I'm an endoskeleton and try to stuff me into an animatronic suit."

"May I remind you that you're not allowed to use any weapons, and you have a limited power supply for the doors, lights, and cameras? So, if those...those...abominations catch you... Good luck."

"I won't need it." smirked Dark Pit as he activated the security monitor. It defaulted to a stage view of three human-sized anthropomorphic animatronics: a brown bear with a black top hat, a lavender bunny with a red bowtie, and a yellow duck-like chicken with a white bib that read "LET'S EAT!" in bold, yellow type. "Let me guess. That's Freddy, Bonnie, and Chica."

"Foxy can't be too far away," added Viridi as Dark Pit flipped through the camera view until he came across the cylinder curtain of Pirate's Cove.

"Most likely, he's behind that curtain, which probably means he doesn't like being watched too much."

"Or too little, seeing as 'he's' designed to entertain kids."

"94%," the power indicator at the bottom left corner of the monitor read.

"And that's supposed to tell me how much power I have, I presume," quipped Dark Pit.

"What gave that away?" scoffed Viridi as the dark angel's eyes turned to the mini map at the opposite corner.

He tapped his finger from one room to another, viewing them through the cameras mounted throughout the building. Once he finished, he sat back in the dark brown swivel chair behind him and made himself comfortable.

"Y-Yeah, they don't tell you these things when you sign up," said the man on the phone. "But hey, first day should be a breeze. I'll chat with you tomorrow. Uh, check those cameras, and remember to close the doors only if absolutely necessary. Gotta conserve power. Alright, good night."

The phone clicked into deathly silence save for the electrified hum of the monitors and the whir of the desk fan.

"So, any bright ideas?" asked Viridi.

3 AM

"Foxy's loose."

"I see him."

"He's headed your way!"

"I see him!"

Dark Pit's hand slammed onto the red button just as the pirate fox leaned in to attack. The door slid shut and half crushed, half guillotined the hapless animatronic. His voice box sputtered nonsense and then ground to a halt.

"You do know you're going to get fired for that, don't you?" said Viridi.

"Let them," scoffed Dark Pit as he raised the door. "I'll use him as evidence that the animatronics are faulty." He paused. "And thanks to you, I have a witness."

"Oh, blackmail. Very clever."

"Not that I really care about this job in the first place, but thanks."

"You're welcome."

Dark Pit nonchalantly shut the East door as Chica approached the office, and then raised it once she had retreated. He looked back to the monitor to check the power indicator. "45%," it read.

His eyes roved up to the exposed wires trailing from the office ceiling as Freddy's low, maniacal laughter rang through the halls.

"Freddy's coming," warned Viridi.

"Thanks for the warning," said Dark Pit, closing the door as Freddy came within arm's reach of the office. A few blips of the hallway light signaled his departure.

"What? No more security door guillotines?"

"One will suffice."

Dark Pit raised the door and turned back to the opposite doorway. To his surprise, Foxy's remains were gone.

"Well, there goes your evidence," snarked Viridi, urging a groan from the dark angel as he peeked outside to see Bonnie dragging the crimson-furred remains of Foxy down the West hall. "Any more bright ideas?"

"Why don't you go ask your boyfriend for some, next time?" joked Dark Pit.

"Wha-?!" spat Viridi. "For the last time, he's not my boyfriend!"

5 AM

Dark Pit sneaked down the hall and ducked under a table in the Dining Hall, making sure to stay out of Bonnie's sight as the animatronic took Foxy's remains backstage. From therein, he heard muffled clattering and banging, almost as if Bonnie was trying to stuff Foxy's remains into a new animatronic suit. At last, he saw Bonnie appear on the stage and then plod away. Once he was sure that all the animatronics were gone, Dark Pit crept out from beneath the table and darted backstage. There, on a table at the center of the in the dark, sparse room lined with shelves of spare parts, was another Foxy suit, this one crammed with the original Foxy's remains.

What Dark Pit didn't expect was the limp Golden Freddy suit sitting beside the table. He hopped back, fists and teeth clenched, but then eased off. Only then did he notice the foul stench of rotting human flesh emanating from within. He held his breath and took a closer look, wrenching his stomach to find a pair of blue human eyes dangling from its sockets and a set of teeth fitted at the back of its mouth.

"Something tells me this is a little more evidence than you bargained for," gagged Viridi.

Any retort Dark Pit may have had was interrupted by the sound of footsteps from the stage. He dove behind the door for cover, peeking out through the crack to see Bonnie entering with a skeletal human-like silhouette trailing behind him. Another moment of deathly silence filled the air-broken only by the sounds of a metallic body being stuffed inside another suit-until he finally left...or so Dark Pit thought before bumping his elbow on the shelf nearby.

Bonnie spun back to the source of the noise, and Dark Pit braced himself for an attack. Instead, the animatronic plodded toward the shelf, picked up a fallen costume head, and placed it back on. Then, he left the room.

"Still planning on getting Foxy back to the office?" whispered Viridi.

"No," said Dark Pit. "He's too heavy for me to carry without being seen or heard."

"Then I guess all you can do is wait for your shift to end...right...about...now."

6 AM

The doorbell of the morning signaled the end of Dark Pit's first-and only-night at Freddy Fazbear's Pizza. Although management fired him for property damage, the evidence he presented forced them to post want ads for mechanics and mortality rates for future security guards.

* * *

Next time on Fazbear's Gauntlet...

_"I'm-a Luigi, #1," Luigi nervously chanted to himself._


	4. Entrant 3: Luigi

Entrant 3: Luigi

**Night 1**

12 AM

"I'm-a Luigi, #1," the lanky, mustachioed plumber nervously chanted to himself. He roved his sky blue eyes between the two open security doors, the monitor, and the whirring desk fan, and then rested his glove on the antiquated phone as it rang.

"Hello, hello?" the message began. "Uh, I wanted to record a message for you to help you get settled in on your first night. Um, I actually worked in that office before you. I'm finishing up my last week now, as a matter of fact. So, I know it can be a bit overwhelming, but I'm here to tell you there's nothing to worry about. Uh, you'll do fine. So, let's just focus on getting you through your first week. Okay?"

Luigi nodded, repeating his hollow mantra under his breath.

"Uh, let's see, first there's an introductory greeting from the company that I'm supposed to read. Uh, it's kind of a legal thing, you know."

"Uh-huh," said Luigi, listening to the man on the phone as he read through the greeting.

"Blah blah blah, now that might sound bad, I know, but there's really nothing to worry about. Uh, the animatronic characters here do get a bit quirky at night, but do I blame them? No. If I were forced to sing those same stupid songs for twenty years and I never got a bath? I'd probably be a bit irritable at night too. "

"Wait. Why are you telling me this?" asked Luigi, worried.

"So, just be aware, the characters do tend to wander a bit. Uh, they're left in some kind of free roaming mode at night. Uh...Something about their servos locking up if they get turned off for too long. Uh, they used to be allowed to walk around during the day too. But then there was The Bite of '87."

"The what of '87?" asked Luigi.

"Uh, now concerning your safety, the only real risk to you as a night watchman here, if any, is the fact that these characters, uh, if they happen to see you after hours probably won't recognize you as a person. They'll p-most likely see you as a metal endoskeleton without its costume on. Now since that's against the rules here at Freddy Fazbear's Pizza, they'll probably try to...forcefully stuff you inside a Freddy Fazbear suit."

"They'll do WHAT?!"

"Um, now, that wouldn't be so bad if the suits themselves weren't filled with crossbeams, wires, and animatronic devices, especially around the facial area. So, you could imagine how having your head forcefully pressed inside one of those could cause a bit of discomfort...and death."

"DEATH?!"

"Uh, the only parts of you that would likely see the light of day again would be your eyeballs and teeth when they pop out the front of the mask, heh. Y-Yeah, they don't tell you these things when you sign up. But hey, first day should be a breeze. I'll chat with you tomorrow. Uh, check those cameras, and remember to close the doors only if absolutely necessary. Gotta conserve power. Alright, good night."

The phone clicked into deathly silence save for the electrified hum of the monitors and the whir of the desk fan. Luigi flipped his eyes between each open security door flanking his chair, beside each door being a pair of large, square buttons. A red one labeled "DOOR" and a white one labeled "LIGHT". Then, he glimpsed the security monitor, which showed three human-sized anthropomorphic animatronics: a brown bear with a black top hat, a lavender bunny with a red bowtie, and a yellow duck-like chicken with a white bib that read "LET'S EAT!" in bold, yellow type.

At the bottom left corner was a battery-shaped power indicator that read "98%." A crude, 8-bit mini map of the entire building adorned the lower right corner, which Luigi tapped with his white-gloved finger to flip between views of each room. As he flipped back to the view of the show stage, he noted that the bunny animatronic had begun to move.

"Oh, why am I not allowed to use-a the Poltergust?" he whined. "I never should've taken this job."

3 AM

"Waah!" yelped Luigi as he spotted Bonnie by the West door and shut it. "Waah!" he yelped again as Chica appeared by the East door. He slapped the red button to shut the East door, tapping the white button to check for her presence. Once he was sure both animatronics were gone, he raised the two doors and scanned the office for anything he could use to bar their path. To his dismay, all he could find was a large stereo speaker beneath the desk.

"I can only block off one hall, then, huh?" he muttered. "Let's-a see..."

Once he had dragged the stereo speaker into the East Hall and set it down in the middle, he returned to the office, glimpsed the monitor, and blipped its view to the cylinder curtain of Pirate's Cove. Staring back at him was the face of a crimson fox with an eyepatch flipped open above his right eye.

It was Foxy.

"Waah!" yelped Luigi, lowering the monitor to see a lifeless golden bear animatronic suit similar to Freddy slumped in front of the desk. "Waah!" he yelped again, returning his sights to the monitor-again, seeing Foxy emerge from the curtain. "Waah!" he yelped yet again, glimpsing the desk again. This time, the Golden Freddy suit was gone.

He thought for a moment about whether or not he was starting to go crazy at the sight of the suit, but these were quickly interrupted by the sound of frenzied footsteps in the West Hall. Luigi to the door and shut it just in time to seal Foxy outside. A second later, he heard a series of loud thuds through the door as Foxy tried in vain to enter. Looking out the window to see Foxy retreating, he wiped his brow with the back of his hand. He raised the door and returned his sights to the power indicator.

"42%," it read.

5 AM

Luigi opened the West door once Bonnie had retreated, leaving the East door shut as Chica remained in the window. "5%," the power indicator read. The mustachioed plumber curled into a fetal ball and began to cry like a baby as Freddy's low, maniacal laughter rang through the halls.

"I'm-a going to die," he sobbed.

But then, his eyes fell upon the wires streaming to the monitors from the ceiling. Then, he looked beneath the office desk and tracked the fan's power cord to the outlet in the front wall.

"Hmm," he mused, sparking his hand with electricity. He crept beneath the desk and took the monitor there with him, keeping an eye on the indicator.

"3%," it read.

"I'd-a better be careful," he muttered as he cupped his sparking hand around the open outlet.

"4%," the power indicator read.

"Mamma mia," gasped Luigi in delight. "It's-a working."

He fed more electricity into the socket, watching the power indicator's reading continue to climb.

"13%...23%...33%...43%..."

All at once, it hit him. He could just leave the security doors shut and recharge the building as needed, thus staying safe from all harm. His heart raced at the thought, as did the indicator.

"73%...83%...93%...100%."

"Yay!" he cheered and danced as he popped out from under the desk. "Go Weegee! Go Weegee! Go Weegee! Go Weegee!"

Little did he realize that he had left the West door open and that Foxy was sprinting down the hall.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA" screeched Foxy as he leaned in to attack.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!" shrieked Luigi, bolting out of the building through the back wall of the office before his assailant could grab him. "MAAARIOOOOOOOO!" he wailed as he tore down the street.

6 AM

The doorbell of the morning signaled the end of Luigi's first-and only-night at Freddy Fazbear's Pizza. Management tried to fire him for property damage, but he quit on the grounds of being too scared to put up with the animatronics.

* * *

Next time on Fazbear's Gauntlet...

_...but through it all, the massive gorilla with the red necktie soundly slumbered._


	5. Entrant 4: Donkey Kong

Entrant 4: Donkey Kong

**Night 1**

12 AM

The faint, electrified hum of the lights and wires. The steady whir of a metal desk fan. The gentle snore of the ramshackle Office's lone simian occupant. These were the only sounds to hail the ring of the antiquated phone.

"Hello, hello?" the message began. "Uh, I wanted to record a message for you to help you get settled in on your first night. Um, I actually worked in that office before you. I'm finishing up my last week now, as a matter of fact. So, I know it can be a bit overwhelming, but I'm here to tell you there's nothing to worry about. Uh, you'll do fine. So, let's just focus on getting you through your first week. Okay?"

Donkey Kong creaked in his swivel chair as he stretched himself between it and the desk, his feet groping randomly.

"Uh, let's see, first there's an introductory greeting from the company that I'm supposed to read. Uh, it's kind of a legal thing, you know. Um, 'Welcome to Freddy Fazbear's Pizza. A magical place for kids and grown-ups alike, where fantasy and fun come to life.'"

By chance, one toe touched a security monitor, whose camera view defaulted to a stage view of three human-sized anthropomorphic animatronics: a brown bear with a black top hat, a lavender bunny with a red bowtie, and a yellow duck-like chicken with a white bib that read "LET'S EAT!" in bold, yellow type.

"'Fazbear Entertainment is not responsible for damage to property or person. Upon discovering that damage or death has occurred, a missing person report will be filed within 90 days, or as soon property and premises have been thoroughly cleaned and bleached, and the carpets have been replaced.'"

At the bottom left corner was a battery-shaped power indicator that read "98%." A crude, 8-bit mini map of the entire building adorned the lower right corner, which the still-sleeping Donkey Kong tapped with his big toe to flip between views of each room.

"Blah blah blah, now that might sound bad, I know, but there's really nothing to worry about. Uh, the animatronic characters here do get a bit quirky at night, but do I blame them? No. If I were forced to sing those same stupid songs for twenty years and I never got a bath? I'd probably be a bit irritable at night too. So, remember, these characters hold a special place in the hearts of children and we need to show them a little respect, right? Okay."

The man's message continued to fall on sleep-deafened ears, and the security monitor view flipped randomly. Through the camera view roulette, the bunny animatronic was shown to have started leaving the stage toward the opened security doors at the other end of the building, and the power indicator depleted with each passing minute.

But through it all, the massive gorilla with the red necktie soundly slumbered. Even the baleful footsteps of the approaching animatronics did little to rouse him. The doors hung open, welcoming any possible attackers.

1 AM

Finally, Donkey Kong stirred awake to a hoarse groan in his ear and opened his eyes to meet Bonnie, the lavender bunny animatronic, poised to kill him.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA" screeched Bonnie.

"EEEYAAAAAAAHAAAAA!" screamed Donkey Kong, falling out of his chair as he tore off Bonnie's head with a frantic backhand. Shaking his head clear, he glimpsed first the disembodied animatronic head chewing on his hand, and then the headless animatronic squirming on the floor next to him. With a loud roar, he crunched the animatronic head in his fist, hopped to his feet, beat his chest, and assaulted the rest of his would-be assailant.

The last thing Chica, the yellow chicken animatronic, saw before she too was reduced to scrap was the berserk Donkey Kong storming out of the office into the East Hall and hurling the crumpled ball of metal and fake fur formerly known as Bonnie the Bunny straight at her.

Calming down, Donkey Kong cupped his hand to his ear to check for any more hostile footsteps, and then re-entered the Office.

3 AM

"1. New. Message," the phone's answering machine droned before it repeated the phone man's message. This time, Donkey Kong paid careful attention and picked up the security monitor from his desk. He flipped from camera to camera on the monitor, trying to find the animatronics the man on the phone had warned him about, but his search was interrupted by his stomach grumbling.

"Ohhh..." he moaned.

Without even bothering to read the power indicator, he flipped through the cameras again, this time searching for any sign of food. Finally, he tapped his finger to a box on the 8-bit mini map that brought up only blank TV static. At first, he winced in disgust at the static, but as he was about to flip to another room, his eye fell upon the word, "Kitchen." His face lit up, for he knew that where there was a kitchen, there was bound to be food, particularly, he hoped, his favorite of all.

"Mmmm! Banana!" he said to himself in excitement, dropping the monitor on the floor as he left the Office.

Passing through the East Hall, he took only passing notice of the junk pile that was once two of the animatronics at the far end. Eventually, he opened a door and groped and groped around for a light switch until the lights flipped on. What he found inside was a simple but immaculate arrangement of relatively modern kitchenware. Pots and pans hung from the ceiling-mounted racks. The knives sat neatly sheathed on the counters. The stovetops and ovens were finely polished. The cupboards lining the walls looked hybridized between wood and metal. Even the sinks were nearly spotless.

And there, at the far end of the kitchen, sat a massive metal door with a piece of paper taped to it. "Refrigerator: Do not open after hours," it read.

Ignoring the paper, Donkey Kong plodded to the door and tried to pull it open by its handle. When it didn't open, he grabbed its sides, ripped it off the wall, and planted it beside him. He shielded himself as a frigid gust blew in his face from inside the exposed chamber. Lowering his hands, he entered the chamber to witness a huge stockpile of assorted foodstuffs, all arranged on metal racks and shelves. Dough balls, shredded cheeses, sauce tubs, assorted meat and vegetables, etc.

Finally, he spotted a metal tub filled with bright yellow cubes and picked it up from the rack.

"Hmmm," he mused, sampling one of the cubes. To his simultaneous delight and disappointment, it was pineapple. Without a second thought, he scarfed down the rest of the cubes and discarded the metal tub.

Suddenly, the balefully cheerful chime of a music box rang through the kitchen, but Donkey Kong remained distracted by his search. He found the green pepper to be crisp and watery, but otherwise quite bland. He steered clear of all the meat toppings, especially the anchovies. He quickly discovered that the air grew colder the deeper into the chamber he searched, all the while sampling and discarding whatever didn't satisfy him. But at last, nestled between a massive ice cream carton and a mound of canisters of crushed nuts was his desired prize.

A bunch of bananas.

His joy was short-lived, however, as Freddy, the brown bear animatronic, popped up in his face and grabbed at him.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA" he screeched, forcing Donkey Kong back into another rack of foodstuffs, which tumbled onto Freddy's head, crashed into the opposite rack, and squashed the bananas.

Donkey Kong's horror and grief at the loss of his prize morphed into primal wrath, and he tore the hapless Freddy limb from limb and laid siege to the entire building. The furious ape smashed his way through the walls until he met Foxy, the crimson fox animatronic, in Pirate's Cove and uppercutted him through the roof.

6 AM

The doorbell of the morning signaled the end of Donkey Kong's first-and only-night at Freddy Fazbear's Pizza. He was fired for massive property damage, general unprofessionalism, odor, and at least 10 different noise complaints.

* * *

Next time on Fazbear's Gauntlet...

_Down. Up. Down. Up. The little pink puffball squealed in delight with each press of the red button._


	6. Entrant 5: Kirby

Entrant 5: Kirby

**Night 1**

12 AM

CLUNK

CLUNK

CLUNK

CLUNK

Down. Up. Down. Up. The little pink puffball with red feet squealed in delight with each press of the red button mounted near the West security door in the Office. With each press, the door opened and closed with a loud, metallic clatter that almost drowned out the antiquated phone's ringing.

"Hello, hello?" the message began.

CLUNK

"Uh, I wanted to record a message for you..."

CLUNK

"...to help you get settled in on your first night."

CLUNK

"Um, I actually worked in that office before you."

CLUNK

"I'm finishing up my last week now, as a matter of fact."

CLUNK

Kirby paid the man on the phone no heed; he was having too much fun with the door. Finally, he stopped to both giggle and catch his breath, and only then did the man's words catch his nonexistent ear.

"Uh, now concerning your safety," said the man, "the only real risk to you as a night watchman here, if any, is the fact that these characters, uh, if they happen to see you after hours probably won't recognize you as a person. They'll p-most likely see you as a metal endoskeleton without its costume on. Now since that's against the rules here at Freddy Fazbear's Pizza, they'll probably try to...forcefully stuff you inside a Freddy Fazbear suit."

Kirby's smile faded into a curious coo.

"Um, now, that wouldn't be so bad if the suits themselves weren't filled with crossbeams, wires, and animatronic devices, especially around the facial area. So, you could imagine how having your head forcefully pressed inside one of those could cause a bit of discomfort...and death."

Hypnotically, he trotted to the desk and hopped upon the creaky swivel chair before it.

"Uh, the only parts of you that would likely see the light of day again would be your eyeballs and teeth when they pop out the front of the mask, heh. Y-Yeah, they don't tell you these things when you sign up."

He opened his mouth and studied his reflection in a small mirror mounted near the whirring desk fan. Even he found it odd that he had no teeth.

"But hey, first day should be a breeze. I'll chat with you tomorrow. Uh, check those cameras, and remember to close the doors only if absolutely necessary. Gotta conserve power. Alright, good night."

The phone clicked into deathly silence save for the electrified hum of the monitors and the whir of the desk fan. Kirby roved his eyes to stare into the nearest monitor and poke it active. It defaulted to a stage view of three human-sized anthropomorphic animatronics: a brown bear with a black top hat, a lavender bunny with a red bowtie, and a yellow duck-like chicken with a white bib that read "LET'S EAT!" in bold, yellow type.

At the bottom left corner was a battery-shaped power indicator that read "89%." A crude, 8-bit mini map of the entire building adorned the lower right corner, which Kirby tapped to flip between views of each room. As he flipped back to the view of the show stage, he didn't notice that the bunny animatronic had begun to move.

1 AM

As Kirby reached for the red button near the West Hall, he saw Bonnie, the bunny animatronic, outside the door.

"Bunny!" he squealed in excitement.

Bonnie stared at the pink puffball smiling back at him, about-faced, and walked away. Kirby, disappointed, chased the lavender animatronic down the hallway toward the Dining Area. There, he saw 6 long, cloth-draped tables arranged 3 by 2, each crowned with assorted conical party hats and lined with confetti-patterned chairs with gold stars on their backrests. A single dim light illuminated the center of the room.

Kirby looked for the lavender bunny, but he was nowhere in sight. Instead, he spotted Chica, the yellow chicken animatronic, leaving for the East Hall.

"Ducky!" he squealed, following her.

2 AM

Chica unwittingly led Kirby to a short hallway marked by two doors at either end. Hung beside each door was a silhouetted sign, one male and one female. Festive pizza decorations lining the walls caught Kirby's eye immediately. Mistaking the decorations for real pizza, Kirby jumped up to the nearest one, grabbed onto its crust, and tried to pry it off the wall, but lost his grip and plopped onto the floor. Frustrated, he hopped to his feet and tried to inhale the decoration, but instead ate Chica as she left the women's restroom.

"Mm?" said Kirby as the animatronic struggled inside his mouth, but his confusion soon passed, and he swallowed.

He prepared to try to inhale the pizza again, but a deep, maniacal laugh rang through the building and tugged on his non-existent ears. He looked up to find himself face to face with Freddy Fazbear himself.

"Teddy?" he squeaked as the animatronic took only passing notice of his presence.

Kirby couldn't help but wonder why the animatronics thus far had ignored him, so he decided to follow Freddy and find out. Passing through the East Hall, he was distracted by the sight of a door labeled "Kitchen: Employee Access Only". He squealed in delight, for he knew that where there was a kitchen, there was bound to be food. He jumped up to the handle, pulled it down, and let it swing open to welcome him to the darkness therein.

He walked into the room and groped around for a light switch until the lights flipped on. What he found inside was a simple but immaculate arrangement of relatively modern kitchenware. Pots and pans hung from the ceiling-mounted racks. The knives sat neatly sheathed on the counters. The stovetops and ovens were finely polished. The cupboards lining the walls looked hybridized between wood and metal. Even the sinks were nearly spotless.

And there, at the far end of the kitchen, sat a massive metal door with a piece of paper taped to it. "Refrigerator: Do not open after hours," it read.

Kirby could scarce contain his excitement as he raced to the refrigerator door and jumped up to its handle, but try as he might, it didn't open. He thought for a moment, and then let his face lit up. He took a quick breath and spat out a star shape, which rocketed forward and shattered as it smashed into the door. For a moment, it hung at the doorway, and then toppled forward, squashing the alarmed Kirby.

4 AM

...but fortunately, Kirby squeezed his way out from under the fallen refrigerator door, dazed but relatively unhurt. He shook himself clear and turned back to the opened doorway and witnessed a huge stockpile of assorted foodstuffs, all arranged on metal racks and shelves. Hungrily, he hopped forward, opened wide, and inhaled, and within seconds, he had devoured the contents of the refrigerator, food, racks, tubs, wrappers, and all.

"Mmmm. Yummy," he moaned.

5 AM

As Kirby left the kitchen, he saw a fallen microphone on the floor. Looking around, he wondered where its owner could have gone, but this wondering soon passed, and he ate it. As he swallowed, a pair of headphones sprouted atop his...uh..."head"...and a matching microphone appeared in his hand.

Ignoring the sinister laughter ringing through the building, he raced down the East Hall, through the Dining Area, and onto the Main Stage. Then, he saw Bonnie and Foxy returning from the West Hall. They were joined by Freddy from the East Hall, carrying the shattered remains of Chica in his arms. This was the moment, Kirby thought, and he took a deep breath, put his microphone to his mouth, and began to sing.

"Kihon wa maru," he thought he was singing.

"so; e4jm5 p893qau;8yea9pu5spuy9pw84auapusui4ws6i," the animatronics thought he was singing.

"AAAAAAAIIIIIIEEEEEEEAAAAHHHHAAAIIA!" the building must've thought he...

You know what? It didn't matter what he was singing, because as he sang, everything nearby began to crumble, fragment, and collapse. First, the animatronics seized up, jerked about, and self destructed. Then, tiles fell from the ceiling and the floor cracked. Then, the windows shattered. And then, the cameras exploded, the lights blew out, and the walls and beams warped and fell. Within minutes, Freddy Fazbear's Pizza was reduced to a smoldering heap of rubble topped by a little pink puffball with red feet and stubs for arms.

6 AM

The doorbell of the morning signaled the end of Kirby's first-and only-night at Freddy Fazbear's Pizza. He was fired for massive property damage, general unprofessionalism, and at least 10 different noise complaints, some of which accompanied by semi-permanent hearing loss.

* * *

Next time on Fazbear's Gauntlet...

_"Lady Palutena, can you hear this?"_


	7. Entrant 6: Pit

Entrant 6: Pit

**Night 1**

12 AM

The white-winged angel stood before the desk and pinched his chin as he scanned the merchandise laid out thereupon. His blue eyes narrowed to lazy slits as they stopped on the ringing phone.

"Hello? Hello, hello?" began the message from the other end of the line. "Uh, I wanted to record a message for you to help you get settled in on your first night."

"Lady Palutena, can you hear this?" asked Pit.

"I can hear it loud and clear, Pit," echoed the voice of the goddess Palutena in his head. "Remember?"

"Oh, yeah. I forgot."

"And you might want to pay attention."

"Uh, let's see, first there's an introductory greeting from the company that I'm supposed to read. Uh, it's kind of a legal thing, you know."

Pit paid the man on the phone no heed for the time being, instead searching the disheveled desk for anything of use. Finally, his hands rested on a security monitor half-buried beneath several wads of crumpled paper. He dusted it off and activated it to see three human-sized anthropomorphic animatronics: a brown bear with a black top hat, a lavender bunny with a red bowtie, and a yellow duck-like chicken with a white bib that read "LET'S EAT!" in bold, yellow type.

"Blah blah blah, now that might sound bad, I know, but there's really nothing to worry about," continued the man on the phone.

A crude, 8-bit mini map of the entire building adorned the lower right corner, which Pit tapped to flip between views of each room. As he flipped back to the view of the show stage, he noted that the bunny animatronic had begun to move. His eyes roved to the battery indicator blipping at the lower left corner of the monitor. "99%," it read.

"Evidently, I don't have that much power for the building," said Pit.

"That's true," said Palutena, "so you'd better conserve power if you want to stand a chance of survival."

"After what I went through with Hades, the Underworld army, and the Aurum back in Kid Icarus: Uprising...uh, wait. Who is this Kid Icarus, anyway?"

"I thought it was just a title change, so that the first game would appeal to a wider audience. Specifically, European and American ones."

"Oh, yeah, because the Japanese title was-"

"Hold that thought. Here comes the most important part of the phone call."

Pit's attention snapped back to the phone message.

"Uh, now concerning your safety," it continued, "the only real risk to you as a night watchman here, if any, is the fact that these characters, uh, if they happen to see you after hours probably won't recognize you as a person. They'll p-most likely see you as a metal endoskeleton without its costume on."

With that, Pit returned to his chair and roved his head between the security doors flanking him. Beside each one, he saw a pair of large, square buttons, a red one labeled "DOOR" and a white one labeled "LIGHT".

"Now since that's against the rules here at Freddy Fazbear's Pizza, they'll probably try to...forcefully stuff you inside a Freddy Fazbear suit. Um, now, that wouldn't be so bad if the suits themselves weren't filled with crossbeams, wires, and animatronic devices, especially around the facial area. So, you could imagine how having your head forcefully pressed inside one of those could cause a bit of discomfort...and death. Uh, the only parts of you that would likely see the light of day again would be your eyeballs and teeth when they pop out the front of the mask, heh.

"Y-Yeah, they don't tell you these things when you sign up. But hey, first day should be a breeze. I'll chat with you tomorrow. Uh, check those cameras, and remember to close the doors only if absolutely necessary. Gotta conserve power. Alright, good night."

The phone clicked into deathly silence as Pit turned his eyes to the ceiling. There, he saw a large, square air vent grate.

"Hmm..." he mused.

"What is it?" asked Palutena.

"So, what that man said was...that as long as the animatronics think I'm in costume...they'll leave me alone..."

"Don't tell me you're going to do what I think you're going to do."

"That depends on what you think I'm going to do."

2 AM

The East door sealed to keep Chica outside, Pit opened the desk drawers and dug through the papers scattered therein until he finally unearthed a dusty screwdriver.

"Aha!" he shouted in triumph as he scooted the swivel chair beneath the air vent and stood atop it.

"I knew it," said Palutena as Pit set to work unscrewing the vent grate from the ceiling. "You're going to crawl through the vents, head backstage, take an empty animatronic mask, and then head back to the office."

"It's a wacky idea, but it should work, right?" said Pit as the grate clattered on the floor in front of the opened West door.

He hopped off the chair, checked to see that Chica was gone, and then opened the East door. Turning back to the West door, he saw Bonnie peering in to the Office. When he tried to shut the door with the red button, however, it failed to respond.

"Oh, no!" panicked Pit.

"What's wrong?" asked Palutena.

"The door! It won't close!"

"Bonnie must've disabled it somehow."

"What now?"

"The air vent."

"What air vent?"

"The one you just opened. Get inside."

"Oh, yeah. Right."

Pit pushed the chair near the center of the Office, mounted himself on it, jumped off as Bonnie entered the room to attack...

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA"

...bounced off the animatronic's head, and scrambled into the opened vent.

"Good thing the animatronics can't jump," he grunted as he crawled through the cramped, metallic space.

4 AM

The journey through the cramped maze that was the air vents was uncomfortable, to say the least. Pit could hardly tell where he was going, much less see. As he crawled, he wondered just how far he had strayed from his intended path, until finally, his hand rested on the lip of a short chute to the grate below. He peered down to see the vague shape of a metal endoskeleton sitting on a table, its head swiveling from side to side.

"This must be it," he gasped in excitement, which soon morphed into dismay as he failed to jar the grate loose.

All at once, he realized that he had left his trusty screwdriver back in the office, but he also realized that it wouldn't help him undo the screws that held the grate in place.

"Okay. Think, Pit," he thought. "You're stuck in the air vent and the backstage room is directly below you. You need to get a mask in that room so you 'll be safe from the animatronics. Question is, 'How do I get out of here?'"

As he thought, he almost pricked his hand on the exposed point of one of the screws, and his eye snagged on the rings around his wrist.

6 AM

But by the time he dislodged the last screw from the grate, the doorbell of the morning signaled the end of his first-and only-night at Freddy Fazbear's Pizza. He was fired for general unprofessionalism and attempted property theft.

* * *

Next time on Fazbear's Gauntlet...

_"Pit made it through this. Pittoo made it through this," she whispered under herself. "Surely, I cam make it through this too..."_


	8. Entrant 7: Palutena

Entrant 7: Palutena

**Night 1**

12 AM

The only sounds to break the air of the cramped office were the whir of the metallic desk fan and the faint, electrified hum of the lights and wires. The lone living occupant was the sea green-haired goddess seated in the creaky swivel chair at the cluttered desk. Her white, slit-sided robe draped across her otherwise bare legs.

"Okay. Pit made it through this. Pittoo made it through this," she whispered to herself as the phone rang. "Surely, I can make it through this too..."

"Hello? Hello, hello?" said the man on the other end of the phone line. "Uh, I wanted to record a message for you to help you get settled in on your first night. Um, I actually worked in that office before you. I'm finishing up my last week now, as a matter of fact. So, I know it can be a bit overwhelming, but I'm here to tell you there's nothing to worry about. Uh, you'll do fine. So, let's just focus on getting you through your first week. Okay?"

Palutena nodded as she first glanced between the security doors to either side of her, taking note of the buttons positioned beside them, and then reached for the nearest security monitor. Her emerald eyes tracked her finger as it blipped the monitor active to its stage camera view of three human-sized anthropomorphic animatronics: a brown bear with a black top hat, a lavender bunny with a red bowtie, and a yellow duck-like chicken with a white bib that read "LET'S EAT!" in bold, yellow type.

"Uh, the animatronic characters here do get a bit quirky at night, but do I blame them? No. If I were forced to sing those same stupid songs for twenty years and I never got a bath? I'd probably be a bit irritable at night too."

"Don't remind me," sighed the goddess as she checked the power indicator at the bottom left corner of the monitor. "99%," it read. At the opposite corner rested a crude, 8-bit mini map of the entire building adorned the lower right corner.

"Uh, now concerning your safety, the only real risk to you as a night watchman here, if any, is the fact that these characters, uh, if they happen to see you after hours probably won't recognize you as a person. They'll p-most likely see you as a metal endoskeleton without its costume on."

As Palutena flipped between camera views of the other rooms in the building, her ears perked to the faint sounds of the animatronics moving.

"Now since that's against the rules here at Freddy Fazbear's Pizza, they'll probably try to...forcefully stuff you inside a Freddy Fazbear suit. Um, now, that wouldn't be so bad if the suits themselves weren't filled with crossbeams, wires, and animatronic devices, especially around the facial area."

Again, Palutena nodded.

"So, you could imagine how having your head forcefully pressed inside one of those could cause a bit of discomfort...and death."

Her eyes returned to the power indicator, which now read "98%."

"Y-Yeah, they don't tell you these things when you sign up. But hey, first day should be a breeze. I'll chat with you tomorrow. Uh, check those cameras, and remember to close the doors only if absolutely necessary. Gotta conserve power. Alright, good night."

The phone clicked into deathly silence save for the electrified hum of the monitors and the whir of the desk fan, leaving the goddess of light to watch and wait for her oncoming assailants.

3 AM

As Palutena raised the East door, she closed her eyes and stretched her arms above her head and stepped back to the center of the office. When she opened her eyes, she found herself face to face with a lifeless golden bear animatronic suit similar to Freddy slumped in front of the desk. She shut her eyes and shook her head, but when she opened her eyes, the Golden Freddy suit disappeared.

"That must've been Golden Freddy," she muttered.

Any thoughts she may have had on how the phantom suit got into the office were interrupted by Freddy's low, maniacal laughter ringing through the halls. A quick view of the East Hall through the security monitor showed Freddy in the corner, poised to attack. She lowered the monitor and shut the East door, locking the animatronic out. When the brown bear left, the goddess raised the door and peeked outside. Suddenly, something dawned on her.

"Aha!" she said. "Thank you, Pit!"

She glimpsed the power indicator on the security monitor to see its reading of "87%," then checked both hallways to see if everything was clear, and crept out of the office into the West hall. Her ears twitched to the sound of footsteps speeding towards her, and she dove into the nearby Supply Closet just in time to dodge the crimson blur that was Foxy.

Peering from behind the door, she saw the animatronic lean into the office, twitch about, and then sprint back to his hole in Pirate's Cove.

4 AM

With the coast clear, Palutena crept out of the supply closet and slunk down the West Hall, ever watchful for danger. She soon reached an expansive area with 6 long, cloth-draped tables arranged 3 by 2, each crowned with assorted conical party hats and lined with confetti-patterned chairs with gold stars on their backrests. A single dim light illuminated the center of the room.

On the stage at the front of this Dining Hall, she saw Bonnie pacing backstage. Knowing it was only a matter of time before he would emerge, she slipped underneath the nearest table and waited for him to pass. Once she was sure the other animatronics were gone, she slipped out from under the table and raced backstage. There, she saw spare costume parts galore lining the shelves of the dimly lit space. Seated on a table at the center of the room was a deactivated endoskeleton with no costume.

"That's odd," she whispered. "Why would the animatronics ignore that endoskeleton?"

But Freddy's distant laughter stopped any further thoughts she may have had on the matter. She trotted to the nearest shelf, picked up a spare Freddy head, and felt around inside for any animatronic devices. Dissatisfied, she dropped it and repeated the procedure with another Freddy head. This one, to her relief, was empty. Thus, she slipped it over her own head and propped it up with her hands. The sound of her own breathing rang within the musty space around her face.

5 AM

The masked Palutena held her breath in shock as she stepped onto the Show Stage to find herself face to face with Chica. About 5 tense seconds later, the yellow chicken animatronic about-faced and left the stage, leaving the goddess to sigh in relief. Her mask atop her head, she marched through the Dining Hall, down the West Hall, and back into the Office. Once there, she removed the Freddy head and set it down beside her chair.

"Yeesh, that thing is stuffy," she gasped, brushing her head with her fingers.

Turning back to the desk, she saw the Golden Freddy suit again, this time accompanied by a faint, childlike giggle. "IT'S ME," she thought she read in 8-bit type as she shook her head clear, and again, the Golden Freddy suit was gone.

"I'd better report this to management," she whispered, eyeing the power indicator one last time. "6%," it read.

6 AM

The doorbell of the morning signaled the end of Palutena's first-and only-night at Freddy Fazbear's Pizza. When management didn't believe her story about the phantom Golden Freddy suit, she quit.

* * *

Next time on Fazbear's Gauntlet...

_"What's going on?" thought-spoke the blue jackal. "This isn't the location they assigned me to."_


	9. Entrant 8: Lucario

Entrant 8: Lucario

**Night 1**

12 AM

"What's going on?" thought-spoke the blue jackal as he entered the sickly green-lit office space. "This isn't the location they assigned me to."

The space in question featured a long, rectangular window to the hallway outside, a dirt-streaked desk, a wire trash can, and a cardboard box stuffed with empty costume pieces and props. Plastered upon the walls were old drawings of the mascots of an old pizzeria, and matching figurines rested upon the desk. The remains of a brown bear animatronic suit hung outside the only doorway. Wires hung from the ceiling like tangled clusters of vines.

The phone rang to hail an incoming message.

"Hey-Hey! Glad you came back for another night!" said the man at the other end of the phone. "I promise it'll be a lot more interesting this time. We found some-some great new relics over the weekend. And we're out tracking down a new lead, right now. So-uh lemme just update real quick, then you can get to work."

"Like, the attraction opens in like, a week, so we had to make sure everything works, and nothing catches on fire! Uh-when the place opens, people will come in at the opposite end of the building, and work their way towards you, then past you and out the exit. Uh-yeah. You've officially become a part of the attraction. Uh-You'll be starring as... A security guard!"

Lucario glanced about the room and found two monitors at either end of his view.

"So not only will you be monitoring the people on the cameras as they pass through, y'know, to make sure no one steals anything or makes out in the corner, but you'll also be a part of the show. It'll make it feel really authentic I think. Uh... Now let me tell you about what's new. We found another set of drawings, always nice, and a Foxy head! Which we think to be authentic... then again it might just be another crappy cosplay, and we found a desk fan, very old school - metal, though, so watch the fingers. Uh-heh..."

With a touch of a blue button from his backhand-spiked paw, he whirred the security camera system to life. The distorted views of each room fizzled with static with each touch to the 8-bit map at the bottom right corner of the screen. Near the adjacent corner were two boxes that said "Play Audio" and "Map Toggle".

"Uh... Right now the place is basically just, you know, flashing lights, spooky props. Uh, I honestly thought we would have more by now, uh, we don't have something really cool by next week, we may have to suit you up in a furry suit, and make you walk around saying, 'Boo'...hehe, uh... But, you know, like I said, we're trying to track down a good lead right now."

"Hello," said a young boy's voice as Lucario tapped one of the boxes.

"Uh, some guy who helped design one of the buildings says there was, like, an extra room that got boarded up or- uh, something like that. So, we're gonna take a peek and see what we can find. Uh, for now just get comfortable with the new setup, um... You can check the security cameras over to your right with a click of that blue button. Uh, you can toggle between the hall cams and the vent cams..."

Lucario tapped the other box and toggled between views of said vent cams, finding that they too fizzled with static between each view. He then lowered the monitor and trotted to the left of the office.

"Uh, then over to your far left, uh, you can flip up your maintenance panel. Y'know, use this to reboot any systems that may go offline. Heh. So, in trying to make the place feel vintage we may have overdone it a bit, hehe... Some of this equipment is barely functional. Yeah, I wasn't joking about the fire. Tha-tha-that's a real risk."

The black screen near the doorway whirred to life as Lucario tapped a red button near its bottom edge. "audio devises, camera system, ventilation, reboot all," and "exit," it read in a luminescent green list of text.

"Uh, the most important thing you want to watch for is the ventilation. Look, this place will give you the spooks, man, and if you let that ventilation go offline, then you'll start seeing some crazy stuff, man. Keep that air flowin'. Okay, keep an eye on things, and we'll try to have something new for ya tomorrow night."

The phone clicked silent, leaving Lucario to explore the camera system and maintenance panel throughout the night.

6 AM

The doorbell of the morning signaled the end of Lucario's first night at Fazbear's Fright: The Horror Attraction.

**Night 2**

12 AM

The blue jackal returned to the office, ready to face whatever horrors would await. Soon, the phone rang again, signaling the return of the caller.

"Hey, man- okay, I have some awesome news for you!" said the voice. "First of all, we found some vintage audio training cassettes! Dude, these are, like, prehistoric! I think they were, like, training tapes for like, other employees or something like that. So, I thought we could, like, have them playing, like, over the speakers as people walk through the attraction. Dude, that makes this feel legit, man."

"But I have an even better surprise for you, and you're not gonna believe this- we found one. A REAL one. Uh-oh-uh gotta go man- uh, well-well look, i-it's in there somewhere, I'm-I'm sure you'll see it. Okay, I'll leave you with some of this great audio that I found! Talk to you later, man!"

As the training tape played, Lucario flipped to the fritzy security monitor. It defaulted to a view of the tattered silhouette of a golden rabbit-like animatronic suit...but something felt amiss. As he squinted, his eyes flashed an eerie yellow. His vision blurred to total darkness save for the bleeding red aura emanating from within the animatronic's torso.

All at once, he realized that the staff had made a mistake, retrieving a homicidal ghost bound to the animatronic suit.

Flipping through the security cameras, he noted that the tattered animatronic had begun to move. His eyes roved to the "Play Audio" box on the screen, and he tapped it with his paw.

"Hi," said a recorded boy's voice, urging the animatronic to backtrack into the room.

Suddenly, as Lucario flipped to another camera view, a deformed boy's face obstructed the screen. He pulled the monitor away to find himself face to face with the burnt visage of a humanoid animatronic with a propeller cap.

"HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH" it hissed as it lunged into Lucario's face and then just as quickly vanished.

The blue jackal shook his head clear to see the red light flashing and hear the alarm blaring in tune. All at once, he found it hard to breathe, so he hurried to the maintenance panel and pulled it up. Beside the ventilation posting, it flashed "error" in luminescent red text. Tapping his paw to the screen, he waited for the ventilation system to reboot before turning back to the security monitors.

The animatronic was gone.

Lucario flipped the security view to glean the inside of the vents, where he spotted the animatronic crawling towards the office. Quickly, he tapped a box that said "seal vent", awaiting its progress bar to fill. Soon, the animatronic retreated, but when Lucario tried to flip back to view the other rooms, the monitor went black. "error", it flashed in red text at the top left corner of the screen. He pulled it down once more and turned to the maintenance panel only to be barred by the burnt visage of a decayed animatronic fox with an eyepatch over its right eye.

"HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH" it hissed as it lunged into Lucario's face and then just as quickly vanished.

Once again, Lucario found it hard to breathe, and the alarm blared and flashed to indicate an error with the ventilation system. Shaking his head clear, he staggered to the maintenance panel to see the camera system and ventilation flashing "error" in sync. He tapped his paw to the screen and rebooted all three systems at once. The seconds dragged on like for what felt like hours as his disoriented but still potent aura sense tingled to hail the jackal's imminent doom.

He pulled up the security monitor to see the rogue animatronic standing in a room a short distance away from the office, responding by playing the audio device once more. To his invisible relief, the animatronic slinked away to the source of the noise. But as it left, Lucario's ears twitched to low, baleful singing.

"Thirty years since all this happened,  
Thirty years it took to rise.  
Blood on the floor and in their eyes,  
They took the bite and left them to die."

It faded away as Lucario switched to another empty room and played the audio again, but now, he found that the audio too was flashing an error message. Returning to the maintenance panel, he heard the ventilation alarm blaring yet again. "error," the panel read to indicate that both the audio devices and the ventilation had gone offline. Again, Lucario tapped his paw to the screen to reboot the faulty equipment.

6 AM

The doorbell of the morning signaled the end of Lucario's second-and last-night at Fazbear's Fright: the Horror Attraction. He never returned, and he never explained why.

* * *

Next time on Fazbear's Gauntlet...

_His spines twitched as the boy's voice echoed through the halls._


	10. Entrant 9: Sonic

Entrant 9: Sonic

**Night 1**

12 AM

Sonic stood alone in the expansive, empty office space, tapping his red sneaker and casually chewing on a bite of chili dog. He didn't even bother to answer the phone on the desk behind him as he flickered his flashlight down the empty hallway.

"Uh, hello? Hello, hello?" said the voice on the phone. "Uh, hello and welcome to your new summer job at the new and improved Freddy Fazbear's Pizza. Uh, I'm here to talk you through some of the things you can expect to see during your first week here and to help you get started down this new and exciting career path."

"If by 'exciting career path,' you mean 'nightly snorefest,' then yeah, I agree," said the blue hedgehog.

"Uh, now, I want you to forget anything you may have heard about the old location, you know. Uh, some people still have a somewhat negative impression of the company. Uh... that old restaurant was kind of left to rot for quite a while, but I want to reassure you, Fazbear Entertainment is committed to family fun and above all, safety."

"Pfft. Where've I heard that before?" snarked Sonic as he finished his chili dog and backflipped behind the desk, pushing back the swivel chair as he glanced the security monitors. The view defaulted to a view of a row of toy-like anthropomorphic animatronics on a show stage: a brown bear with a top hat, a yellow chicken with a bib and a pink cupcake, and a blue bunny with a red bowtie.

"So our temporary solution is this: there's a music box over by the Prize Counter, and it's rigged to be wound up remotely. So just, every once in a while, switch over to the Prize Counter video feed and wind it up for a few seconds. It doesn't seem to affect all of the animatronics, but it does affect... one of them."

Sonic flipped the monitor's display to the view of the aforementioned room, wherein rested a huge, iron blue gift box crowned with a purple ribbon. Beside the crude 8-bit map display was a box that said, "Wind Up Music Box."

"I could get there, wind the box, and get back in the office in half that time," scoffed Sonic.

"Uh, something else worth mentioning is kind of the modern design of the building," continued the man on the phone. "You may have noticed there are no doors for you to close, heh. But hey, you have a light! And even though your flashlight can run out of power, the building cannot. So, don't worry about the place going dark. Well, I think that's it. Uh, you should be golden. Uh, check the lights, put on the Freddy head if you need to, uh, keep the music box wound up, piece of cake. Have a good night, and I'll talk to you tomorrow."

The phone clicked into deathly silence, and Sonic twirled the black, metallic flashlight in his hand.

2 AM

The next two hours dragged on like an eternity in Sonic's mind as he flashed his flashlight down the hallway, flickered the lights in the air vents, and checked the security cameras, making sure to keep the music box wound all the while. For a moment, he thought of drifting off to sleep-more so out of boredom than of drowsiness-but then, something caught his eye and sprang his body into motion. The hedgehog slipped on the Freddy Fazbear head and held his breath as the zombified lavender animatronic bunny scanned his face, and then left the office. With the danger passed, Sonic sighed, pulling off the Freddy head and setting it down on his desk.

"No wonder I can't just leave that thing on," he muttered. "It's too hard to breathe in it."

A few flips of his flashlight later, he spotted the Toy Freddy animatronic marching down the hall and reached back for the Freddy head, but the orange-bordered warning signal flashed in the monitor. The music box in the prize corner, he figured, was winding down. As he reached for the monitor, his face lit up.

"Why would I need to wind that box remotely when I can just run down to the Prize Corner and wind it up there?" he mused. "I prefer running, anyway."

After a quick review of the security monitor's mini map, he burst out of the office, slid between Toy Freddy's legs, zipped down the Main Hall...

3 AM

...and skidded to a stop in the next room, flashlight shining in hand. His spines twitched as a boy's voice echoed through the halls.

"Hello," Sonic thought he heard the boy say.

But then, returning his attention to the room he was in: the Game Area, a large, elaborately decorated room lined with balloons and present boxes with a toy carousel in the middle. The Prize Corner, he noticed, was straight ahead.

"I wonder why none of the other animatronics appear in this room," mused Sonic as he quickly wound up the music box.

This thought was soon quashed as he heard garbled radio static from the ceiling. Diving behind the massive present box, he looked up to see a disfigured, contorted shamble of an animatronic crawling above him. What appeared to be a Foxy head with lipstick was paired with a bare animatronic head, both heads crowning the animatronic's seemingly serpentine frame.

The twisted animatronic slithered out of the room, leaving Sonic to ponder its purpose in the establishment.

5 AM

When Sonic made sure the coast was clear, he raced back to the Office but skidded to a stop outside the doorway as he spotted some of the animatronics crawling around therein. Staying hidden, he waited for the animatronics to leave before he re-entered and sat behind the desk. A slight itch beneath his ear urged him to scratch it, and he once again began to drift off to sleep. However, the radio static he had heard in the Prize Corner whirred above him once again. Turning his head to the ceiling, he spotted the Mangled animatronic crawling there, poised to attack.

"If that was one of Eggman's robots, I'd just smash it," he mused, "but rules are rules, I guess..."

"BYYLLOWAARRGLRRGH" gurgled the animatronic as it swung down from the ceiling to bite him in the face.

He somersaulted beneath the animatronic, letting it crash against the wall behind him in a heap.

"Really?" groaned Sonic. "Is that all they've got?"

More bored than tired, he crossed his feet upon the desk, leaned back, and stretched his arms beside his head.

6 AM

The doorbell of the morning signaled the end of Sonic's first-and only-night at Freddy Fazbear's Pizza. He quit on the grounds of the job being too boring.

* * *

Next time on Fazbear's Gauntlet...

_She brushed her hair aside as she stared down the hall. "What would Mario do..."_


	11. Entrant 10: Peach

Entrant 10: Peach

**Night 1**

12 AM

The princess of the Mushroom Kingdom sat in the creaky swivel chair, brushing her bright pink dress free of dust. She roved her blue eyes between the two open security doors, the monitor, and the whirring desk fan, and then rested her glove on the antiquated phone as it rang.

"Hello, hello?" the message began. "Uh, I wanted to record a message for you to help you get settled in on your first night. Um, I actually worked in that office before you. I'm finishing up my last week now, as a matter of fact. So, I know it can be a bit overwhelming, but I'm here to tell you there's nothing to worry about. Uh, you'll do fine. So, let's just focus on getting you through your first week. Okay?"

Peach didn't pay much attention to the phone caller as he droned on, instead focusing more on the battery indicator blipping at the lower left corner of the monitor. "99%," it read.

The monitor itself showed three human-sized anthropomorphic animatronics: a brown bear with a black top hat, a lavender bunny with a red bowtie, and a yellow duck-like chicken with a white bib that read "LET'S EAT!" in bold, yellow type.

"Those must be the animatronics," Peach muttered to herself.

A crude, 8-bit mini map of the entire building adorned the lower right corner, which Peach tapped with her white-gloved finger to flip between views of each room. As she flipped back to the view of the show stage, she noted that the bunny animatronic had begun to move.

"So, just be aware, the characters do tend to wander a bit," continued the man on the phone. "Uh, they're left in some kind of free roaming mode at night. Uh...Something about their servos locking up if they get turned off for too long."

She lost herself in the views of the rest of the rooms, from the cylindrical curtain of Pirate's Cove to the empty blackness of what was supposed to view the Kitchen.

"Uh, now concerning your safety, the only real risk to you as a night watchman here, if any, is the fact that these characters, uh, if they happen to see you after hours probably won't recognize you as a person. They'll p-most likely see you as a metal endoskeleton without its costume on. Now since that's against the rules here at Freddy Fazbear's Pizza, they'll probably try to...forcefully stuff you inside a Freddy Fazbear suit."

"Wait. What?" she asked, snapping back to the man on the phone.

"Um, now, that wouldn't be so bad if the suits themselves weren't filled with crossbeams, wires, and animatronic devices, especially around the facial area. So, you could imagine how having your head forcefully pressed inside one of those could cause a bit of discomfort...and death."

"Death?"

"Uh, the only parts of you that would likely see the light of day again would be your eyeballs and teeth when they pop out the front of the mask, heh. Y-Yeah, they don't tell you these things when you sign up. But hey, first day should be a breeze. I'll chat with you tomorrow. Uh, check those cameras, and remember to close the doors only if absolutely necessary. Gotta conserve power. Alright, good night."

The phone clicked into deathly silence as Peach eased herself out of the swivel chair and strolled to the West security door. She brushed her hair aside as she stared down the hall. "What would Mario do?"

2 AM

Peach's finger tapped the monitor's map to flip between views of each room, ever wary of the power indicator.

"60%," it read.

As she lowered the monitor, she nodded and flipped her hair away from her eyes, strolling to the East door and turning on the lights. Not far from the doorway stood Chica, the yellow chicken animatronic, which Peach promptly closed the door on. Turning her sights to the West door, she flipped the lights to see Bonnie, the purple bunny animatronic, approaching. Thus, she closed that door as well.

Looking back at the monitor, she glimpsed Foxy peeking out of Pirate's Cove, his fanged maw hanging open as his eyepatch was flipped above his eye. She faintly heard low, maniacal laughter ringing through the halls, but dared not raise the doors to find out its source.

Flipping the lights to check to see if the coast was clear, she finally raised both doors and breathed a sigh of relief at Bonnie and Chica's absence.

"I can't believe I'm so nervous," she whispered to herself. "Why am I so nervous?"

There would be time to answer that question later, she figured, as the laughter rang through the hallway again.

4 AM

The West door slid shut as the crimson fox animatronic beat futilely thereupon, and Peach backed away from the switch.

"Ha!" she scoffed as she peered through the window to see Foxy retreat while she raised the door. "I've been kidnapped too many times to fall for that again!"

In her moment of triumph, however, she failed to notice the power indicator.

"0%," it read.

The lights turned off, the doors sprang open, and all the animatronics stopped in their tracks. The balefully cheerful chime of a music box rang through the halls. Instinctively, Peach raised her parasol and crouched down beneath it, knowing that none of the animatronics would be strong enough to tear through it.

Suddenly, the music stopped, and everything went pitch black. A few tense seconds later, Peach peeked out from beneath her parasol to make sure the coast was clear...

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA" screeched Freddy as he popped up in front of her and attacked.

Peach was never seen again. The only sign that she had even been in the building was an empty parasol.

* * *

Next time on Fazbear's Gauntlet...

_"If only I was allowed to use my sword," the former Gerudo chieftain grumbled._


	12. Entrant 11: Ganondorf

Entrant 11: Ganondorf

**Night 1**

12 AM

Ganondorf, the Great King of Evil, felt that this job was a waste of time, but he nonetheless obliged, if for no other reason than to humor the managers of the location. His cape hung at his armored shoulders as he glanced down the hall, sitting in the creaky swivel chair at his desk as if it was a small throne. He rested his bearded chin upon his fist as he listened to the antiquated phone ring, his flashlight sitting nearby.

"Uh, hello? Hello, hello?" said the voice on the phone. "Uh, hello and welcome to your new summer job at the new and improved Freddy Fazbear's Pizza. Uh, I'm here to talk you through some of the things you can expect to see during your first week here and to help you get started down this new and exciting career path."

Ganondorf rolled his darkness-attuned eyes at the phone, knowing full well that he could see in the dark as if he was in broad daylight.

"Uh, now, I want you to forget anything you may have heard about the old location, you know. Uh, some people still have a somewhat negative impression of the company. Uh... that old restaurant was kind of left to rot for quite a while, but I want to reassure you, Fazbear Entertainment is committed to family fun and above all, safety."

He picked up the nearby security monitor and flipped through views of each room throughout the restaurant.

"They've spent a small fortune on these new animatronics, uh, facial recognition, advanced mobility, they even let them walk around during the day. Isn't that neat? -clears throat But most importantly, they're all tied into some kind of criminal database, so they can detect a predator a mile away. Heck, we should be paying them to guard you."

He paused to clear his throat, and then glanced down the hall. No sign of movement.

"Uh, now that being said, no new system's without its... kinks. Uh... you're only the second guard to work at that location. Uh, the first guy finished his week, but complained about... conditions. Uh, we switched him over to the day shift, so hey, lucky you, right? Uh mainly he expressed concern that certain characters seemed to move around at night, and even attempted to get into his office."

"Hmph," muttered Ganondorf as he continued to flip through the monitor's views. "That sounds a bit like some of the ReDead I used to command."

"So when it gets quiet, they think they're in the wrong room, so then they go try to find where the people are, and in this case, that's your office. So our temporary solution is this: there's a music box over by the Prize Counter, and it's rigged to be wound up remotely. So just, every once in a while, switch over to the Prize Counter video feed and wind it up for a few seconds. It doesn't seem to affect all of the animatronics, but it does affect... one of them."

"Uh, and as for the rest of them, we have an even easier solution. You see, there may be a minor glitch in the system, something about robots seeing you as an endoskeleton without his costume on, and wanting to stuff you in a suit, so hey, we've given you an empty Freddy Fazbear head, problem solved! You can put it on anytime, and leave it on for as long as you want. Eventually anything that wandered in, will wander back out."

Ganondorf's eyes casually roved to the empty Freddy Fazbear head resting beside the phone, and then, the twitch of a rogue animatronic in the hallway caught his eye.

"Well, I think that's it. Uh, you should be golden. Uh, check the lights, put on the Freddy head if you need to, uh, keep the music box wound up, piece of cake. Have a good night, and I'll talk to you tomorrow."

"If only I was allowed to use my sword," the former Gerudo chieftain grumbled as he donned the Freddy head. "Oh, who am I kidding? I never use that thing anyway."

2 AM

Ganondorf left the head on for longer than he bothered to keep track. Though it did bother him that there was little room inside for his huge nose, he figured that he might as well put up with it. Picking up the security monitor, he flipped its view to the Prize Corner and held his finger to the box that said, "Wind music box," watching the device's dial wind up.

Suddenly, a low hum droned in his ears, urging him to snap his head up. He held his breath as a vaguely obscured toy animatronic scanned his face and then left the office. With the danger passed, he smirked in triumph, almost forgetting that he left the Freddy Fazbear head on his head. He paused to reach for an itch on his scalp, but then touched the mask's fake fur.

"Of course," he muttered.

He peeled the Freddy head off of his head, set it down on the desk, and scratched his scalp, wiping some sweat off as well. Once finished, he redressed himself and prepared for the rest of the night.

4 AM

As Ganondorf prepared to drift off to sleep in his chair, he heard a music box chime-faintly at first, but steadily louder. He glimpsed the security monitor's view of the Prize Corner to find that the massive present box therein was opened from within. All at once, he realized that he had let the music box unwind.

Charging down the hallway was the faint silhouette of what appeared to be a scarecrow-like animatronic. Ganondorf guessed that this was the animatronic that the music box had placated, but it was too late to second guess himself.

"BYYLLOWAARRGLRRGH" gurgled the animatronic as it lunged out of the shadows and plopped itself face first into Ganondorf's outstretched hand.

The hapless Puppet flailed about, groping for the masked Ganondorf, but the Great King of Evil simply laughed and awaited the next victim. He gazed down the hall to see more animatronics cloaked in the darkness and cocked his arm, almost crunching his fingers into the Puppet's face.

"BYYLLOWAARRGLRRGH" gurgled a tattered crimson pirate fox animatronic as it too lunged out of the shadows, only to meet its end as Ganondorf swung the Puppet into it in a wide arc.

CRASH

The two animatronics collapsed in a heap of scrap metal and fake fur beside Ganondorf's desk.

6 AM

The doorbell of the morning signaled the end of Ganondorf's first-and only-night at Freddy Fazbear's Pizza. He was fired for property damage and general unprofessionalism.

* * *

_Next time on Fazbear's Gauntlet..._

For a moment, he reached for his sword, but then remembered the rules of Freddy Fazbear's Pizza.


	13. Entrant 12: Meta Knight

Entrant 12: Meta Knight

**Night 1**

12 AM

Meta Knight stepped into the sickly green-lit office space where he was assigned to work. Therein was a, rectangular window to the hallway outside, a dirt-streaked desk, a wire trash can, and a cardboard box stuffed with empty costume pieces and props. Plastered upon the walls were old drawings of the mascots of an old pizzeria, and matching figurines rested upon the desk. The remains of a brown bear animatronic suit hung outside the only doorway. Wires hung from the ceiling like tangled clusters of vines.

The phone rang to hail an incoming message.

"Hey-Hey! Glad you came back for another night! I promise it'll be a lot more interesting this time. We found some-some great new relics over the weekend. And we're out tracking down a new lead, right now. So-uh lemme just update real quick, then you can get to work."

Meta Knight's beady yellow eyes roved about beneath his mask, surveying the surroundings to see two monitors at either side of his view.

"Like, the attraction opens in like, a week, so we had to make sure everything works, and nothing catches on fire! Uh-when the place opens, people will come in at the opposite end of the building, and work their way towards you, then past you and out the exit. Uh-yeah. You've officially become a part of the attraction. Uh-You'll be starring as... a security guard!"

He trotted to the right monitor...

"So not only will you be monitoring the people on the cameras as they pass through, y'know, to make sure no one steals anything or makes out in the corner, but you'll also be a part of the show. It'll make it feel really authentic I think."

...and whirred it to life with a touch of his armored mitten.

"Uh... Now let me tell you about what's new. We found another set of drawings, always nice, and a Foxy head! Which we think to be authentic... then again it might just be another crappy cosplay, and we found a desk fan, very old school - metal, though, so watch the fingers. Uh-heh..."

Flipping the camera's view from room to room, he noticed two gray boxes near the 8-bit mini map. "Play Audio," said one. "Map Toggle," said the other. He tapped the first box first, hearing the recorded laugh of a young boy. He waited for a while as the box switched places with a row of dots and then came back. Next, he touched the second box to flip to a view of the insides of the vents. He noticed that the "Play Audio" box was replaced by small print instructions for sealing each vent.

"Uh, for now just get comfortable with the new setup, um... You can check the security cameras over to your right with a click of that blue button. Uh, you can toggle between the hall cams and the vent cams... Uh, then over to your far left, uh, you can flip up your maintenance panel. Y'know, use this to reboot any systems that may go offline. Heh. So, in trying to make the place feel vintage we may have overdone it a bit, hehe... Some of this equipment is barely functional. Yeah, I wasn't joking about the fire. Tha-tha-that's a real risk."

Meta Knight lowered the camera monitor and trotted to the other end of the office.

"Uh, the most important thing you want to watch for is the ventilation. Look, this place will give you the spooks, man, and if you let that ventilation go offline, then you'll start seeing some crazy stuff, man. Keep that air flowin'. Okay, keep an eye on things, and we'll try to have something new for ya tomorrow night."

The phone clicked into silence as he flipped up the maintenance panel and tapped a red button near its bottom edge. "audio devises, camera system, ventilation, reboot all," and "exit," it read in a luminescent green list of text. From there, he was left to explore the rest of the office until...

6 AM

The doorbell of the morning signaled the end of Meta Knight's first night at Fazbear's Fright: The Horror Attraction.

**Night 2**

12 AM

Meta Knight stepped back into the office and awaited the return of the supervising caller. Soon enough, the phone rang.

"Hey, man- okay, I have some awesome news for you!" said the voice at the other end of the phone line. "First of all, we found some vintage audio training cassettes! Dude, these are, like, prehistoric! I think they were, like, training tapes for like, other employees or something like that. So, I thought we could, like, have them playing, like, over the speakers as people walk through the attraction. Dude, that makes this feel legit, man."

"But I have an even better surprise for you, and you're not gonna believe this- we found one. A REAL one. Uh-oh-uh gotta go man- uh, well-well look, i-it's in there somewhere, I'm-I'm sure you'll see it. Okay, I'll leave you with some of this great audio that I found! Talk to you later, man!"

Meta Knight felt his spine crawl as he activated the camera system. In the camera view, he saw the tattered silhouette of a golden rabbit-like animatronic suit...but he sensed that something was amiss. Soon, the camera view fizzled with static, and when it passed, the animatronic was gone. For a moment, Meta Knight reached for his sword, but then remembered the rules of Freddy Fazbear's Pizza...or Fazbear's Fright. He couldn't tell which it was anymore. Nonetheless, he decided the best he could do was monitor the rogue animatronic's movements.

"Hello," said the voice of the young boy as Meta Knight tapped the "Play Audio" box and lowered the monitor. In the window, he saw the charred silhouette of a bear-like animatronic suit with a top hat slumping its way by. He wondered how this machine got into the building, but then remembered the words of the man on the phone, chiefly that he would start seeing "crazy stuff."

But before he had time to react...

"HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH" hissed the bear animatronic as it popped up in Meta Knight's face and then just as quickly vanished.

All at once, the round warrior found it hard to breathe, and he saw the red alarm light flashing above him. He raced to the maintenance panel and checked the systems. "Error", it read in red text next to the ventilation and camera system listings. Thus, he rebooted the appropriate systems and lowered the maintenance panel. He could have sworn that he saw something else moving outside the window.

3 AM

The alarm blared again, leading Meta Knight to trot to the maintenance panel and read that the audio devices and ventilation were offline. As he rebooted all the systems once more, he swore he could hear faint, low, baleful singing through the halls...

"So I trapped myself away from immortal dismay,  
Then the blood so profound came to send me down.  
All the cable in my brain, making me go insane,  
BUT THE SOUL STILL LIVES!"

...but then, he dismissed it as another hallucination as he lowered the maintenance panel. Again, his spine tingled as he glanced about the room for any more such phantoms.

5 AM

It wasn't too long before he spotted what appeared to be the burnt visage of a decayed animatronic fox with an eyepatch over its right eye.

"HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH" it hissed as it lunged into Meta Knight's face and then just as quickly vanished.

Meta Knight shook himself clear and trotted to the maintenance panel, struggling to breathe all the while. He flipped up the panel and rebooted the ventilation system, but when he looked up, he found himself face to face with the golden rabbit animatronic suit. He thought he could see the name, "Springtrap," crudely etched in its forehead.

"HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH" it hissed as it slinked into the office to kill him.

Instinct took over.

TSZCHEE!

In an instant, Meta Knight had drawn Galaxia and let it sing the Springtrap animatronic's decapitation, landing gracefully behind his would-be assailant. It had tasted...flesh and bone...but no blood. He about-faced to see the headless Springtrap flailing its arms and thrashing about the office space behind him. For a moment, he wondered whether or not to finish what he started, leaving the mechanics to repair it in the morning. This wondering was soon quashed as the animatronic finally gripped its head and fastened it back onto its shoulders.

Backwards.

"It's time to die!" it semi-intelligibly droned, fumbling throughout the office and knocking over everything inside.

"I'm surrounded by idiots," grumbled Meta Knight, sheathing his sword and rolling his eyes at his would-be assailant.

6 AM

The doorbell of the morning signaled the end of Meta Knight's second-and last-night at Fazbear's Fright: the Horror Attraction. When management didn't believe his story of the undead animatronic suit, he left.

* * *

Next time on Fazbear's Gauntlet...

_Around and around, he swirled his three-fingered hand..._


	14. Entrant 13: Mewtwo

Entrant 13: Mewtwo

**Night 1**

12 AM

The faint, electrified hum of the lights and wires and the steady whir of a metal desk fan were all that greeted a two-toed foot as it stepped into the empty office space. Narrow, violet eyes scanned the office as their humanoid owner entered, and then hovered to the desk nearby. The antiquated phone thereupon rang.

"Hello, hello?" said the man at the other end of the line. "Uh, I wanted to record a message for you to help you get settled in on your first night. Um, I actually worked in that office before you. I'm finishing up my last week now, as a matter of fact. So, I know it can be a bit overwhelming, but I'm here to tell you there's nothing to worry about. Uh, you'll do fine. So, let's just focus on getting you through your first week. Okay?"

Mewtwo didn't pay much attention to the phone caller as he droned on, instead focusing more on the battery indicator blipping at the lower left corner of the monitor as he lifted it and activated it with his psychic power. "99%," it read.

The monitor itself showed three human-sized anthropomorphic animatronics: a brown bear with a black top hat, a lavender bunny with a red bowtie, and a yellow duck-like chicken with a white bib that read "LET'S EAT!" in bold, yellow type.

A crude, 8-bit mini map of the entire building adorned the lower right corner, which Mewtwo tapped with an invisible psychic finger to flip between views of each room. As he flipped back to the view of the show stage, he noted that the bunny animatronic had begun to move. Paying it little heed, he next flipped to a view of the cylinder curtain of Pirate's Cove, sensing slight movement behind it.

"So, just be aware, the characters do tend to wander a bit. Uh, they're left in some kind of free roaming mode at night. Uh...Something about their servos locking up if they get turned off for too long," continued the man on the phone. "Uh, they used to be allowed to walk around during the day too. But then there was The Bite of '87. Yeah. I-It's amazing that the human body can live without the frontal lobe, you know?"

Aware of what the man was about to say next, Mewtwo set down the monitor and floated to the East Hall to look outside. The lone light bulb hanging beside the door barely illuminated the crude drawings adorning the walls.

"Now since that's against the rules here at Freddy Fazbear's Pizza, they'll probably try to...forcefully stuff you inside a Freddy Fazbear suit. Um, now, that wouldn't be so bad if the suits themselves weren't filled with crossbeams, wires, and animatronic devices, especially around the facial area."

Next, he floated across the office to view the West Hall, itself also dimly lit.

"Y-Yeah, they don't tell you these things when you sign up. But hey, first day should be a breeze. I'll chat with you tomorrow. Uh, check those cameras, and remember to close the doors only if absolutely necessary. Gotta conserve power. Alright, good night."

The phone clicked into deathly silence save for the whir of the fan and the buzzing of the wires. Mewtwo carried himself to the creaky swivel chair and sat himself down, holding the security monitor in place with his mind. Around and around, he swirled his three-fingered hand, stirring a psychic field around the office space.

1 AM

Footsteps rang through the hallway as Mewtwo continued to swirl his hand, and then, just before their source could reach the West door and attack, they stopped, replaced with the sound of flailing servos in mid-air. He paused, and then floated toward the door and peeked outside. Struggling to break free of his invisible bondage was Foxy, the crimson fox pirate animatronic.

For a moment, Mewtwo considered crushing the hapless animatronic in his psychic grip, but then dismissed the idea. Instead, he floated him back to Pirate's Cove and planted him waist deep into the pedestal.

He then floated back into the office and resumed swirling his hand, oblivious to the low, maniacal laughter ringing through the halls.

3 AM

One by one, the other animatronics got caught in Mewtwo's psychic barrier just as Foxy did, and one by one, Mewtwo planted them waist deep into the Show Stage. Watching the animatronics struggle to break out of the stage through the security camera's view, the powerful Pokemon couldn't help but thought-snicker. At that moment, his thoughts echoed into song.

"I've got no strings  
To hold me down,  
To make me fret, or make me frown."

As he lowered the monitor, he found himself face to face with a lifeless golden bear animatronic suit similar to Freddy slumped in front of the desk. He shut his eyes and shook his head, but when he opened his eyes, the Golden Freddy suit disappeared. While initially rattled at the thought of a ghost loose in the building, he soon dismissed the idea and resumed thought-singing.

"I had strings,  
But now I'm free.  
There are no strings on me."

He stopped as his eye caught one of the animatronics breaking free of the Show Stage on the monitor. He floated the monitor within his physical reach and checked the power indicator. "75%," it read.

Eventually, Freddy Fazbear climbed out of the Show Stage and resumed marching down the hallways, laughing all the while. Mewtwo wasn't worried.

5 AM

This time, when Freddy got ensnared in Mewtwo's psychic web, Mewtwo floated into the hallway to look him in his beady eyes. As Freddy futilely groped for Mewtwo's hand, Mewtwo squinted and catapulted Freddy down the hallway. The hapless animatronic smashed through the wall and collapsed in a heap of scrap metal and fake fur in the street outside.

6 AM

The doorbell of the morning signaled the end of Mewtwo's first-and only-night at Freddy Fazbear's Pizza. He was fired for property damage.

* * *

Next time on Fazbear's Gauntlet...

_He darted across the floor, shining the flashlight down the right hallway. He whimpered as he spotted a pair of eyeballs slink away at the far end._


	15. Entrant 14: Lucas

Entrant 14: Lucas

**The night before accepting the job offer**

12 AM

Lucas couldn't sleep.

For four nights, he had been trying to survive horrific, increasingly aggressive animatronic monstrosities that had somehow gotten into his house. His psychic powers had somehow left him, and all he had to defend himself was an old security guard's flashlight. In the gathering dark, he had only it and his ears to rely on to warn him of any sign of these fiends.

He heard faint, evil laughter coming from the right door of the room. To the left was another door, identical in every way except the way it opened and closed. Ahead of him lay a closet with two fence-like folding doors. Two dressers flanked either side of the closet. One had seven drawers and was crowned with a purple fan, alarm clock, and lava lamp. The other had three drawers and housed a shaded lamp atop itself.

He darted across the floor of his bedroom, shining the flashlight down the right hallway. He whimpered as he spotted a pair of eyeballs slink away at the far end. Shutting the door, he listened for any breathing throughout the room. He soon darted back to the foot of his bed, viewing the closet to hear rattling noises behind him.

He spun around.

Three small, nightmarish teddy bears with top hats jittered atop the bed, and then scattered, leaving behind a normal-looking teddy bear with a black top hat. To this night, Lucas wondered what he was doing with such a bear, but such wondering would have to wait. For now, it was time to survive the nightmare.

1 AM

Lucas shut his eyes and listened for any sign of movement once more, but heard only quick footsteps outside. Instinctively, he followed them to the left door and shone his flashlight outside. Again, hollow, beady eyeballs slinked away at the far end, but these eyeballs seemed different somehow. Menacing, yes, but at the same time familiar.

He remembered the day he and his brother, Claus, were inexplicably reunited at the Grand Hall of Smash. At first, Lucas thought he was dreaming, but when he had rubbed his eyes and shook his head clear, there was Claus, jumping in his face in a Mecha-Drago mask and laughing at him as he reeled back and cried.

"That's not funny!" Lucas exclaimed.

"Oh, sorry!" chuckled Claus, peeling off the mask. "I couldn't help myself. By the way, mom said Hi."

The memory was soon quashed by menacing breathing coming from the opposite door, which Lucas raced to and shone his light outside. He could've sworn that he saw the face of a monstrous yellow animatronic chicken. vanish back around the corner at the far end of the hall. Shining the light once again, he saw nothing and darted back to the center of the room.

He thought he saw something stir in the closet, and sure enough, once he peeked inside, there was the decayed face of a monstrous crimson fox animatronic peering out. With a frightened yelp, he slammed the closet's double doors shut and gripped its handles tightly. Finally, the breathing therein subsided, and he opened the doors. Looking deeper inside, he saw the faint shape of a Foxy plushie not unlike the teddy bear on the bed.

The bed.

Lucas spun back to the bed, aimed his flashlight, and saw the mini monster teddy bears perched atop yet again. As the teddy bears dissipated, Lucas heard the evil laughter once more, but this time, right behind him. He about-faced to see the terrifying face of a golden monster bear animatronic with a top hat and a pink bowtie.

"KRRHHHAAAAOOOORRR" it roared as it lunged at Lucas' face.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!" he screamed as he flung himself awake.

Breathing heavily, he snapped his head back and forth around the room and breathed a sigh of relief, plopping back into his pillow.

"Had that nightmare again?" said a voice almost exactly like his own.

He stirred to see the orange-haired but otherwise mirrored face of his brother, Claus, lying next to him and nodded.

"Yeah, I see."

Lucas hesitated, but then spoke up. "I'm beginning to wonder if maybe I shouldn't take the security guard job after all."

"Lucas," said Claus, "They're just animatronics."

"But you know the rumors, right? That they'll kill you if they see you after hours?"

Claus paused, and then nodded nervously.

"I don't want to go through that again. Not after what Porky did to you."

"Speaking of Porky, remember what you learned when you fought him?"

"That brothers shouldn't fight?"

"Besides that."

"...That life is too precious to just throw away?"

"Yeah. If only I had learned that sooner."

"Wait. How did you come back to life, anyway?"

Claus opened his mouth, but no words came out. "How did I, Lucas?"

The brothers looked into each other's eyes in mutual bewilderment, but then snickered it off, snuggled together, and drifted back to sleep.

6 AM

The alarm clock blared the coming of dawn. Lucas rejected the job offer from Freddy Fazbear's Pizza, stating that no amount of money was worth losing his life or family again.

* * *

Next time on Fazbear's Gauntlet...

_"This is no run in with space pirates," she muttered, "but I should still be careful...and why am I talking to myself?"_


	16. Entrant 15: Samus

Entrant 15: Samus

**Night 5**

12 AM

Business was bad for bounty hunters in the Galactic Federation as of late due to a surprisingly long time of peace, and Samus Aran was strapped for cash. Someone suggested that she could opt for prostitution on the grounds of better job security and less risk of life, but she immediately refused. After many failed job applications elsewhere, she had finally settled for the closest thing available to what she did best: a security guard at the infamous pizzeria.

For the past four nights, Samus had guarded the ramshackle establishment that was Freddy Fazbear's Pizza, all the while dodging homicidal animatronic animals, checking security cameras, and managing power for the building.

"This is no run in with space pirates," she muttered as she entered the office for her fifth night on the job, "but I should still be careful...and why am I talking to myself?"

At that moment, the phone rang for the fifth time that week.

"z;oewsiurtan o;zierwsy;etyruay[]earuy'qau/43yjrg/ lizaf'n ue'ut\zajuzaui tuhyae5uya\u zjksh gahey;qa3e5ya$AOTuozawurentzusrt za;ertj szerjhyzsj rghzr;hy a'ewy 'jay 'y a5ujy na5uy]a e]uwa4ut6a'[zujgfgdzjzfwn aj;zretjzaeyizjlzknvzbateAAAAmnxnAAAvz;gAA" babbled a strange, menacing voice from the other end of the line.

The phone clicked into silence as Samus readied her hand to clamp down on the nearest door button.

Sure enough, there was Bonnie, peering into the office from the West Hall. Samus quickly lowered the security door, did likewise to the door opposite, and peered into the security monitor. It defaulted to a view of the show stage, but the bounty hunter flipped its view until it glimpsed Pirate's Cove. From therein peered Foxy, the crimson fox animatronic, ready to creep further out and sprint to the office.

Flipping the lights of the West Hall on, Samus saw Bonnie retreat. She then gleaned the East door's view of its hall to see Freddy Fazbear and Chica outside. For a moment, she considered raising the door and attacking the rogue animatronics but then withdrew this idea, accounting for her lack of any weapons. Were she allowed to don her Varia suit, she could withstand anything the animatronics could throw at her, but that being against the rules of Freddy Fazbear's Pizza, she had to wear a security guard suit instead. Needless to say, she found the Varia suit more comfortable.

But now wasn't the time to dwell on fashion. Now was the time to survive the last night of her trial run.

2 AM

Another clamp of the West door later, she glimpsed the security monitor and checked the power indicator. "85%," it read. As she peeked into the East doorway, she saw Chica peeking into the office and lowered the door. At that moment, loud banging rang through the West door.

"Foxy," muttered Samus, cursing herself for neglecting the security camera's view of Pirate's Cove.

Quickly, she raised the West door, checked to make sure Bonnie was nowhere near, and then checked the monitor once more. There, she saw Foxy retreating to Pirate's Cove and resuming his position. Freddy's low, maniacal laughter rang through the halls as Samus' eyes fell upon the power indicator. "83%", it read.

When she lowered the monitor, she found herself face to face with a lifeless golden bear animatronic suit similar to Freddy slumped in front of the desk. She shut her eyes and shook her head, but when she opened her eyes, the Golden Freddy suit disappeared.

"Okay. That's new," she thought aloud.

4 AM

Samus glimpsed the air vent in the ceiling above for a moment, wondering why she hadn't chosen to hide there. But then, her eyes focused on the screws holding the grate to the vent. Her hand stroked her chin as her eyes returned to the monitor, wherein she saw Foxy about to leave Pirate's Cove and bolt for the office again. Once more, she lowered first the East door, and then the West door. Again, Foxy reached the office and banged outside futilely. A quick glimpse of the power indicator showed the power drop, this time by 6%.

"33%," it read.

More maniacal laughter rang through the hallways, tempting Samus to leave the East door shut. She slunk to the closed door and pressed the white light button, illuminating the hallway outside to see Chica and Freddy clustered there. A tingle crawled up her spine, reeling her back to the West door. Standing outside the doorway was Bonnie, poised to attack.

Otherwise unfazed, Samus closed the door.

"24%," read the power indicator.

Putting her life on the line was nothing new to the bounty hunter, but this, she felt, was really getting ridiculous. The pay may have been good decades ago, but not tonight, and none of the staff had done anything about the rogue animatronics except wave their hands and move on to other things.

She wondered if there were any jobs on her job listing elsewhere in the galaxy and made a mental note to check after the end of her shift.

5 AM

Raising the monitor again, Samus glimpsed Foxy darting to the closed West door. The thumping against the door did little to deter her from the Golden Freddy suit reappearing before her eyes as she lowered the monitor. Again, it vanished as she shook her head clear, glimpsing the words, "It's me."

"8%," read the power indicator.

She raised the West door, lowered the East door, and looked into the monitor again, watching Foxy return to Pirate's Cove. Her routine for this final hour continued until...

"1%," read the power indicator.

Samus reached for the West door button to close the door one last time, when...

6 AM

The doorbell of the morning signaled the end of Samus' fifth-and last-night at Freddy Fazbear's Pizza. She turned down management's offer to make her a permanent member, saying that she had better paying and more exciting jobs elsewhere.

* * *

Next time on Fazbear's Gauntlet...

_"I feel naked without my sword," she moaned as she groped at her hip..._


	17. Entrant 16: Lucina

Entrant 16: Lucina

**Night 1**

12 AM

It was Lucina's turn to monitor the empty expanse of the office at night. Rumors abounded of an employee gone rogue, luring five children to their deaths, but unfortunately, she had missed them all. She cared only about her duty to keep the establishment secure for the night, marching in front of her desk and shining her black, metallic flashlight down the hall.

Little did she notice the phone ringing on the desk behind her.

"Hello? Hello...uh...what on earth are you doing there? Uh didn't you get the memo?" said the man on the phone. "Uh, the place is closed down, uh, at least for a while."

"Memo?" muttered the princess of Ylisse. "What memo? I just got here."

"Someone used one of the suits. We had a spare in the back, a yellow one, someone used it...now none of them are acting right."

Lucina knew not what caught her ear first: the man's sentence or the voice of a young boy saying "Hello," seemingly out of nowhere.

"Listen j-just finish your shift it's safer than trying to leave in the middle of the night. Uh we have one more event scheduled for tomorrow, a birthday. You'll be on day shift, wear your uniform, stay close to the animatronics, make sure they don't hurt anyone okay, uh for now just make it through the night, uh when the place eventually opens again I'll probably take the night shift myself. Okay, good night and good luck."

The phone clicked into deathly silence save for Lucina's body whooshing as she vaulted herself behind her desk. Shimmering her flashlight down the hall once more, she spotted Toy Chica, cupcake in hand, approaching. Flashing a few more times, she watched it retreat.

2 AM

Winding the music box. in the monitor's view of the Prize Corner, its lone occupant placated once more, Lucina caught the faces of Toy Bonnie and Balloon Boy in the air vents to the sides.

"Think, Lucina. Think," she thought, looking around for some way to fend them off. "What would Marth do?"

Immediately, she imagined the legendary Hero-King stabbing the attacking animatronics with a broom handle. Embarrassed, she dismissed this mental image.

"Um, what would Robin do?"

Her eyes fell upon the empty Freddy Fazbear head near the monitor she had just set down. Without delay, she flipped it off the desk and fastened it over her head. The two animatronics hummed as they entered the office and scanned her face.

"I feel naked without my sword," she moaned as she groped at her hip, waiting for the animatronic to pass. "But at least I'm still alive."

3 AM

Winding the music box again, she kept her ears perked for any sign of approaching danger. She was right to do so, of course, because as she lowered the monitor, she heard the young boy's laughter echo through the hallways. Sensing that other animatronics would arrive soon, she quickly donned the empty Freddy Fazbear head once more. Sure enough, she spotted two tattered animatronics passing in front of her. One was a lavender bunny with a missing face, the other a yellow chicken animatronic not unlike Toy Chica with its lower jaw hanging far too open to function.

With the danger passed, she shone her flashlight down the hall to see a third tattered animatronic approaching, this one a crimson fox missing parts of its torso fur. A few more flashes later, the animatronic retreated.

"Hello," echoed the young boy's voice again.

Lucina knew not what creeped her out more: her not being able to fight the animatronics or the boy's voice echoing through the building. Both were soon set aside as she saw the vestige of a tattered ruin of a golden animatronic bear suit resting by the doorway to the main hall. Quickly, she donned the Freddy Fazbear head and held her breath, but as she blinked, the suit faded away.

She considered removing the mask but decided to leave it on her head before winding the music box once more, but the longer she left it on, the harder she found it to breathe. But she knew that it was either that or die at the claws and fangs of the animatronics, so she would have to put up with it.

"Hi," echoed the boy's voice once more.

Again, her spine began to crawl.

5 AM

The flashlight's light dimmed with each flicker Lucina invoked to ward off the approaching Foxy and Mangle. Her mind raced with one thought after another, first of her own survival, then of what the man on the phone had said of someone using a spare yellow suit, and then of the day her father, Chrom, suggested that she marry Robin. Robin had objected that day, citing that even disregarding the fact that he and Lucina were of different time periods, he was much older than her. The rest of that day was one big blur in Lucina's mind, but she remembered that it ended with someone wearing an unfinished upside-down cake as a hat.

"Hi," the young boy's voice echoed once more, snapping her back to the present.

She shone her flashlight into the nearest air vent, wherein she saw the face of a human child animatronic with wide blue eyes and a red and blue-striped propeller cap and shirt. She donned the Freddy Fazbear head once more, wound the music box, and waited for the rogue animatronic to pass.

With the danger gone, she briefly reached for the mask, but then spotted a warning light flashing from the security monitor. The music box had almost finished unwinding.

Quickly, she picked up the monitor and set to work, winding the music box, or so it should have gone. Unfortunately, the remote switch wasn't responding, and the box finished its gentle chime. The present box in the Prize Corner popped open, and out came a thin, wiry puppet-like animatronic, poised to charge down the halls and attack Lucina in the office.

Fortunately...

6 AM

The doorbell of the morning signaled the end of Lucina's first-and only-night at Freddy Fazbear's Pizza. She quit on the grounds of miscommunication between management and employees.

* * *

Next time on Fazbear's Gauntlet...

_"This is the scariest place I've been since Aika Village," he mouthed..._


	18. Entrant 17: Villager

Entrant 17: Villager

**Night 1**

12 AM

The unnamed Villager with short brown hair and a head far too large for his tiny body tiptoed into the sickly green-lit office space. He noticed first the long, glass window viewing the hallway outside, then the dirt-streaked desk, wire trash can, and cardboard box stuffed with empty costume pieces and props. His hollow, black eyes gazed upon the walls, whereupon hung old drawings of the mascots of an old pizzeria to match the figurines on the desk. The remains of a brown bear animatronic suit hung outside the only doorway. Wires hung from the ceiling like tangled clusters of vines.

The phone rang to hail an incoming message.

"Hey-Hey! Glad you came back for another night!" said the man at the other end of the phone line. "I promise it'll be a lot more interesting this time. We found some-some great new relics over the weekend. And we're out tracking down a new lead, right now. So-uh lemme just update real quick, then you can get to work."

"Like, the attraction opens in like, a week, so we had to make sure everything works, and nothing catches on fire! Uh-when the place opens, people will come in at the opposite end of the building, and work their way towards you, then past you and out the exit. Uh-yeah. You've officially become a part of the attraction. Uh-You'll be starring as...a security guard!"

The Villager made a squealing face of delight and danced about.

"So not only will you be monitoring the people on the cameras as they pass through, y'know, to make sure no one steals anything or makes out in the corner, but you'll also be a part of the show. It'll make it feel really authentic I think. Uh... Now let me tell you about what's new."

He then trotted back and forth throughout the office, looking to make sense of the antiquated instrument panels at either end.

"We found another set of drawings, always nice, and a Foxy head! Which we think to be authentic... then again it might just be another crappy cosplay, and we found a desk fan, very old school - metal, though, so watch the fingers. Uh-heh... Uh..."

Stopping by the doorway, he flipped up the maintenance panel to see the luminescent green text.

"Right now the place is basically just, you know, flashing lights, spooky props. Uh, I honestly thought we would have more by now, uh, we don't have something really cool by next week, we may have to suit you up in a furry suit, and make you walk around saying, 'Boo'...hehe, uh... But, you know, like I said, we're trying to track down a good lead right now."

Tapping each line of green text, he awaited each corresponding system to finish rebooting...

"Uh, some guy who helped design one of the buildings says there was, like, an extra room that got boarded up or- uh, something like that. So, we're gonna take a peek and see what we can find. Uh, for now just get comfortable with the new setup, um..."

...and then trotted to the opposite end of the office...

"You can check the security cameras over to your right with a click of that blue button. Uh, you can toggle between the hall cams and the vent cams... Uh, then over to your far left, uh, you can flip up your maintenance panel. Y'know, use this to reboot any systems that may go offline. Heh."

...where he saw said blue button and pressed it to view the cameras. The distorted views of each room fizzled with static with each touch to the 8-bit map at the bottom right corner of the screen. Near the adjacent corner were two boxes that said "Play Audio" and "Map Toggle". The Villager tilted his head and fingered his chin, blinking twice as he stared at the ceiling.

"So, in trying to make the place feel vintage we may have overdone it a bit, hehe... Some of this equipment is barely functional. Yeah, I wasn't joking about the fire. Tha-tha-that's a real risk. Uh, the most important thing you want to watch for is the ventilation. Look, this place will give you the spooks, man, and if you let that ventilation go offline, then you'll start seeing some crazy stuff, man. Keep that air flowin'. Okay, keep an eye on things, and we'll try to have something new for ya tomorrow night."

The Villager continued to explore the office space as the phone clicked into deathly silence. "This is the scariest place I've been since Aika Village," he mouthed.

6 AM

The doorbell of the morning signaled the end of the Villager's first night at Fazbear's Fright: The Horror Attraction.

**Night 2**

12 AM

As the Villager re-entered the office, he contemplated ways to improve the ventilation in the office, but as he reached into his pocket to pull out his shovel, the phone rang once more.

"Hey, man- okay, I have some awesome news for you!" said the man on the phone. "First of all, we found some vintage audio training cassettes! Dude, these are, like, prehistoric! I think they were, like, training tapes for like, other employees or something like that. So, I thought we could, like, have them playing, like, over the speakers as people walk through the attraction. Dude, that makes this feel legit, man. But I have an even better surprise for you, and you're not gonna believe this- we found one. A REAL one."

The Villager perked his ears and trotted to the security camera feed...

"Uh-oh-uh gotta go man- uh, well-well look, i-it's in there somewhere, I'm-I'm sure you'll see it. Okay, I'll leave you with some of this great audio that I found! Talk to you later, man!"

...wherein he saw the tattered silhouette of a golden rabbit-like animatronic suit...but he sensed that something was amiss. Soon, the camera view fizzled with static, and when it passed, the animatronic was gone.

The training tape played in the background as the Villager flipped between camera views to track down the runaway animatronic, putting up with each fizzle of static with each switch of the cameras' views. After a while, he spotted the burnt face of a wiry, marionette-like animatronic on a poster in what appeared to be an arcade region. He quickly flipped to another camera view to see the golden animatronic climbing into one of the nearby air vents. In response, he flipped the camera view to the inside of the vents and sealed the one that led to the office. Before long, the animatronic bumped against the wall therein and retreated.

2 AM

He continued to browse the camera views for a while, playing the audio devices rigged in each room to keep the rogue animatronic at bay. That is, until the camera fizzled out.

"Camera Error," flashed a string of luminescent red text, prompting the Villager to lower the display and head for the maintenance panel. Halfway there, though, he found himself face to face with a charred fox pirate animatronic perched on the box of accessories near the doorway.

"HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH" it hissed as it lunged at his face and then just as quickly vanished.

Red light flashed, an alarm blared, and the Villager found it hard to breathe. Rising back to his feet, he trudged to the maintenance panel, raised its monitor, and rebooted all the offline systems. Shaking his head clear, he double checked the open doorway and realized that he was vulnerable to further attack.

Thinking quickly, he pulled his shovel from his pocket and struck the floor near the doorway.

4 AM

After several loud clangs, the floor tiles finally gave way, giving the Villager the chance he needed to dig a hole big enough to plant a sapling. Reaching into his pocket again, he pulled out one such sapling and planted it into the floor. Putting away his shovel, he drew his watering can and sprinkled the sapling. Within seconds, it mushroomed into a lush, leafy tree that filled the doorway. Breathing a sigh of relief to feel it easier to breathe with the tree's presence, he returned to the camera feed and flipped up the monitor.

Again, he spotted the rogue animatronic, this time slinking to another room. When he lowered the monitor to reboot the once again faulty system, he saw the silhouette of a tattered bear animatronic marching in front of the window.

"Another hallucination?" he mouthed, shaking his head clear to find the animatronic still there.

Waiting for it to slink beneath the bottom of the windowpane, he flipped up the monitor and noted that the audio devices had gone offline as well, but as he lowered it...

"HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH" hissed the bear animatronic as it popped up in the Villager's face and then just as quickly vanished.

Again, the Villager found it hard to breathe, though not nearly as before he had planted the tree. He trotted to the maintenance panel and rebooted the systems. Once he finished, he lowered the panel to find the golden rabbit animatronic trying to work its way around the tree and into the office. For a moment, the Villager reached for his pocket to draw his axe, but then stayed his hand and waited for the animatronic to retreat.

5 AM

At last, the animatronic disappeared, returning to its original post. The Villager breathed a sigh of relief, pulled out an apple from his pocket, and scarfed it down. He then trotted back to the security monitor, flipped between views of the building and vents, and continued to try to distract the golden rabbit animatronic with the audio devices.

6 AM

The doorbell of the morning signaled the end of the Villager's second-and last-night at Fazbear's Fright: The Horror Attraction. He was fired for property damage, lying to the staff about his age, and having the creepy face of a serial killer.

* * *

Next time on Fazbear's Gauntlet...

_His ears twitched, his tail stiffened, and he braced himself for the long night ahead of him..._


	19. Entrant 18: Fox

Entrant 18: Fox

**Night 1**

12 AM

The Star Fox team had lately been strapped for cash, as was customary for mercenaries in peacetime. After many failed job applications elsewhere, their leader, Fox, had finally settled for the closest thing available to what he did best: a security guard at the infamous Freddy Fazbear's Pizza. Rumors abounded of an employee gone rogue, luring five children to their deaths with an animatronic suit. Fox had taken only passing notice of these rumors; he was more concerned about getting money to support his team-and more importantly, his longtime fiance.

As he vaulted himself over the desk, he heard the phone ring.

"Hello? Hello...uh...what on earth are you doing there? Uh didn't you get the memo?" said the man on the phone. "Uh, the place is closed down, uh, at least for a while."

Fox raised an eyebrow.

"Someone used one of the suits. We had a spare in the back, a yellow one, someone used it...now none of them are acting right."

At this point, he could've sworn that he heard the voice of a young boy echoing through the air vents.

"Listen j-just finish your shift it's safer than trying to leave in the middle of the night. Uh we have one more event scheduled for tomorrow, a birthday. You'll be on day shift, wear your uniform, stay close to the animatronics, make sure they don't hurt anyone okay, uh for now just make it through the night, uh when the place eventually opens again I'll probably take the night shift myself. Okay, good night and good luck."

The phone clicked into deathly silence, leaving Fox to survey his surroundings. He spotted first the long, open hallway in front of him, and then the security monitor and empty Freddy Fazbear head resting in front of him on the desk. His ears twitched, his tail stiffened, and he braced himself for the long night ahead of him.

1 AM

As he turned on the monitor, he groped at his hip to find his flashlight mounted there. Looking back to the monitor, he saw the vaguely familiar view of the Prize Corner, giant present box, music box switch, and all. He looked at the nearly depleted dial and wound the music box, twitching his ears to the sound of metallic footsteps.

As he lowered the monitor, he shone the flashlight down the hall to see Foxy approaching. Flickering it several more times, he watched his would-be assailant retreat.

"Hello," he thought he heard a young boy's voice echo through the building.

As Fox illuminated the nearest air vent, he saw the face of one of the toy animatronics peering into the office. Before it took another step, he reached for his hip and drew...thin air.

"Ugh," he grumbled under his breath, reaching for the Freddy Fazbear head instead. "Why do I keep doing that?"

With the mask over his head, he held his breath and waited for the toy bunny animatronic to pass. The danger averted, he removed it to gasp for breath and raise the security monitor again. The music box was quite low, so he wound it.

4 AM

This routine continued for the next three hours without incident, leaving Fox somewhat restless. Again, he grabbed for his hip, only to find his blaster still missing. Shaking his clenched fist at the air, he suddenly twitched his ears to a jingle. It was faint at first, but it rapidly grew louder and louder. All at once, Fox realized that he had forgotten to wind the music box. Charging down the hallway was the faint silhouette of what appeared to be a scarecrow-like animatronic.

"BYYLLOWAARRGLRRGH" it gurgled as it lunged out of the shadows.

Fox dove behind the desk, letting his assailant crash in a heap behind him. Glancing back, he took another look at the scrap heap formerly known as the marionette. Its sad, mime-like face held a smile that contrasted with the streaks of purple that ran from its eyes.

For a moment, Fox felt lingering pity for the animatronic, almost as if mourning a dead child. But then, he returned his attention to his post and sat back at the desk.

5 AM

Another passing animatronic later, Fox's comlink blipped to life. "Fox, are you there?" said the high, nasal voice at the other end of the comlink.

"Yeah, Slippy," replied Fox, blipping the face of his amphibian friend on the screen. "What is it?"

"Oh, nothing. I just thought I'd-pfft."

Slippy could scarcely contain his laughter, urging Fox to tilt his head.

"Oh, this," he said, feeling the mask on his head. "Well, about an hour ago, I was attacked by a puppet-like animatronic, and now, as you can see, I'm wearing this Freddy Fazbear head to disguise myself from the remaining ones."

"Sounds like a really hazardous job. And by that, I mean one you wouldn't want to tell anyone about."

"Huh?"

"I mean if, say, Falco found out you took this job, you'd never hear the end of it, would you?"

"I guess not..."

"And don't even get me started on the Cornerian army."

"Okay. I get it. Not another word. I have to work."

"Oh, sorry, Fox. Let me know when your shift's over."

"All right."

Fox's ears perked to the sound of metallic footprints coming down the hallway. He flickered his flashlight down the hall several times to ward off the oncoming fox-like animatronic.

"Oh, one more thing," chimed in Slippy. "How are things going between you and Krystal?"

Fox slapped the comlink offline and braced himself for what little remained of the night ahead.

6 AM

The doorbell of the morning signaled the end of Fox's first-and only-night at Freddy Fazbear's Pizza. He quit on the grounds of miscommunication between management and employees.

* * *

Next time on Fazbear's Gauntlet...

_His eyes flashed with a dire vision of the near future..._


	20. Entrant 19: Shulk

Entrant 19: Shulk

**Night 1**

12 AM

It was Shulk's time.

His dusty blond hair flickered in the dim light of the office, almost reaching for the air vents above. It had felt like an eternity since anyone had last entered this creepy place to the heir to the Monado. He roved his sky blue eyes between the two open security doors, the monitor, the whirring desk fan, and then the antiquated phone as it rang.

"Hello, hello?" the message began. "Uh, I wanted to record a message for you to help you get settled in on your first night. Um, I actually worked in that office before you. I'm finishing up my last week now, as a matter of fact. So, I know it can be a bit overwhelming, but I'm here to tell you there's nothing to worry about. Uh, you'll do fine. So, let's just focus on getting you through your first week. Okay?"

Shulk took his seat at the desk, picked up the security monitor, and blipped it to life. The first thing he noticed was the battery indicator blipping at the lower left corner. "99%," it read.

"Blah blah blah, now that might sound bad, I know, but there's really nothing to worry about," continued the man on the phone. "Uh, the animatronic characters here do get a bit quirky at night, but do I blame them? No. If I were forced to sing those same stupid songs for twenty years and I never got a bath? I'd probably be a bit irritable at night too. So, remember, these characters hold a special place in the hearts of children and we need to show them a little respect, right? Okay."

Next, he looked into the view of the Main Stage camera, whereupon rested the three infamous animatronic mascots of Freddy Fazbear's Pizza. Shulk had heard the rumors, but at first didn't believe them.

"So, just be aware, the characters do tend to wander a bit. Uh, they're left in some kind of free roaming mode at night. Uh...Something about their servos locking up if they get turned off for too long. Uh, they used to be allowed to walk around during the day too. But then there was The Bite of '87. Yeah. I-It's amazing that the human body can live without the frontal lobe, you know?"

He continued to browse through the cameras' views of the building, from the blackness of what should have been the kitchen to the dimly lit hallway flanking either side of the office.

"Uh, now concerning your safety, the only real risk to you as a night watchman here, if any, is the fact that these characters, uh, if they happen to see you after hours probably won't recognize you as a person. They'll p-most likely see you as a metal endoskeleton without its costume on."

At these words, Shulk's attention snapped to the phone.

"Now since that's against the rules here at Freddy Fazbear's Pizza, they'll probably try to...forcefully stuff you inside a Freddy Fazbear suit. Um, now, that wouldn't be so bad if the suits themselves weren't filled with crossbeams, wires, and animatronic devices, especially around the facial area. So, you could imagine how having your head forcefully pressed inside one of those could cause a bit of discomfort...and death."

This warning urged Shulk to revisit memories of Fiora as a mechon, but then, he pinched his chin.

"Y-Yeah, they don't tell you these things when you sign up. But hey, first day should be a breeze. I'll chat with you tomorrow. Uh, check those cameras, and remember to close the doors only if absolutely necessary. Gotta conserve power. Alright, good night."

The phone clicked into deathly silence save for the electrified hum of the monitors and the whir of the desk fan.

"Sounds like they were never given a proper night mode," mused Shulk as he continued to browse through the security cameras.

3 AM

As Shulk reached for a cup of water he had carried with him to the office, he paused to the sound of low, baleful laughter ringing down the hallways. As he flipped through the monitor's views again, his eyes fell upon the power indicator.

"65%," it read.

As he tracked the rogue animatronics moving throughout the building, he could have sworn that he heard eerie singing.

"Please let us get in!  
don't lock us away!  
We're not like what you're thinking

We're poor little souls  
who have lost all control  
and we're forced here to take that role"

The singing soon faded away, leaving Shulk to mull over why Bonnie had a red bowtie, whether Chica was a chicken or a duck, and whether the rumors of a fifth animatronic were true or not. Suddenly, his eyes flashed with a dire vision of the near future.

_..._

_Lowering the security monitor, he peered outside, checking for any sign of Bonnie. When he was sure the coast was clear, he lowered the East door and raised the monitor again. To his horror, Pirate's Cove was empty._

_He lowered the monitor and raced for the West door to close it, but it was too late._

_"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA" screeched Foxy as he leaned in to attack._

_..._

Shaking his head clear, he raised the East door and peeked at the monitor. Sure enough, Foxy was poised to sprint down the hallway and attack. Shulk lowered the monitor, bounded to the West door, and closed it. Seconds later, he heard a series of loud thuds through the door as Foxy tried in vain to enter. Looking out the window to see Foxy retreating, he cupped his ear to listen for Freddy's baleful laughter.

5 AM

"21%," read the power indicator as Shulk lowered the East door.

As he watched the yellow chicken animatronic peer in to the office through the window, he again pinched his chin.

"Perhaps I should ask them if I could be a mechanic," he thought to himself. "That should help."

But that thought would have to wait for the time being, as he noticed Foxy absent from Pirate's Cove once again via the security monitor. Without a moment's hesitation, he dove for the West door and slapped it shut. Again, Foxy banged on the door in vain, leaving Shulk to catch his breath. Again, low, baleful laughter rang throughout the building as he raised the East door and returned to the center of the office.

6 AM

The doorbell of the morning signaled the end of Shulk's first-and only-night at Freddy Fazbear's Pizza. When he offered his services as a mechanic instead, management turned him down, so he quit.

* * *

Next time on Fazbear's Gauntlet...

_"You know what they say. Two heads-" "Don't say it, Nana."_


	21. Entrants 20 and 21: The Ice Climbers

Entrants 20 and 21: The Ice Climbers

**The night before accepting the job offer**

12 AM

Popo and Nana huddled together as they clambered out of their shared bed. Awoken by the haunting sounds of distant phantoms walking around in the house.

"Nana," said Popo. "Are you there?"

"Yes," said Nana, propping herself up nearby. "Just like always."

The two of them gleaned each other's faces as best as they could in the dim light of the room. Silently, they agreed to split up to investigate and then reconvene, making sure to take their trusty mallets with them.

"You know what they say," said Nana. "Two heads-"

"Don't say it, Nana," interrupted Popo.

"Oh, right. Too cliche."

"Just get the mallets."

Nana reached for the foot of the bed and groped around, shocked to find that her and Popo's trusty mallets were gone. In their place was an old security guard's flashlight.

"They're gone, aren't they?" asked Popo as Nana shone the flashlight forward.

They glanced at the right door of the room, where they heard the noises the loudest. To the left was another door, identical in every way except the way it opened and closed. Ahead of him lay a closet with two fence-like folding doors. Two dressers flanked either side of the closet. One had seven drawers and was crowned with a purple fan, alarm clock, and lava lamp. The other had three drawers and housed a shaded lamp atop itself.

"Looks like we'll have to do this together," gulped Nana, to which Popo nodded.

They locked hands, turned their heads to either door, and then raced to the left door like a pair of conjoined twins, guided by the light of the flashlight.

1 AM

Nana passed Popo the flashlight, which he shone down the hall. He could've sworn that he saw a pair of warped eyeballs slink away at the far end. Soon, they heard menacing breathing coming from the opposite door, which they darted towards to shine the flashlight through. This time, Nana spotted what she thought was a monstrous yellow animatronic chicken vanish back around the corner at the far end of the hall.

"So, now what?" asked Nana, passing the flashlight to Popo.

"Maybe we should check the bed," Popo replied, twitching his ears to rattling noises.

As they reached the center of the room, they aimed the flashlight and saw three small, nightmarish teddy bears with top hats jittering atop the bed.

"Hey, Popo," said Nana as she and Popo watched the nightmare teddy bears scatter.

"Yeah?" said Popo.

"Whose bedroom are we in?"

"What do you mean?"

"When did we ever get that teddy bear, for instance?"

Popo glimpsed the top hat-wearing teddy bear sitting atop the bed. He closed his eyes, shook his head, and looked again, but there remained the bear. The pair gleaned each other's faces again and shrugged together, taking only passing notice of the evil laughter echoing throughout the house.

2 AM

"The closet," said Popo.

"Right," said Nana.

There they looked inside, from wherein the decayed face of a monstrous crimson fox animatronic peered back at them.

"Waah!" the pair yelped in unison as they let go of each other's hands and shut the closet doors.

After a while, they opened the closet to see naught but a pirate fox doll sitting inside. They glanced between each other and the doll inside before looking in opposite directions to the sound of faint, evil laughter.

"There it is again," said Nana.

"There what is again?" asked Popo. "The buzzing, the footsetps, or the laughing?"

"...Yes..." She flexed her hand for a moment. "Can you use your ice hand?"

Popo tried to loose a familiar gust of icy air from his hand, but to no avail. Nana tried likewise, but she too failed. "I guess this flashlight is our only defense after all, huh?"

Again, the pair looked to the bed, watching the nightmarish teddy bears scatter once more. They kept their ears peeled for any other phantoms that may arise as they returned their sight to the center of the room.

3 AM

As they checked the right hallway again, Popo stirred his head at the sight of what he thought was an animatronic creeping out of the closet. "Uh, Nana, when was the last time we checked the closet?"

The two of them looked at each other with worried frowns.

"Uh-oh..." they muttered.

They nodded to each other to check the closet again, but standing in front of them was a golden monster bear animatronic with a top hat and a pink bowtie.

"KRRHHHAAAAOOOORRR" it roared as it lunged at the pair's faces, urging them to scream each other's names as they flung themselves awake.

Breathing heavily, they glimpsed each other's faces, breathed a dual sigh of relief, and plopped their heads back into their pillows.

"You had that dream too, huh?" shuddered Nana.

"Yeah," shuddered Popo. "Are you thinking what I'm thinking?"

"You think the rumors are true? Like what happened to Peach?"

"I really don't want to find out..."

Nana nodded assent as she and Popo snuggled together for comfort and drifted back to sleep.

6 AM

The alarm clock blared the coming of dawn. The Ice Climbers rejected the job offer from Freddy Fazbear's Pizza, stating that no amount of money was worth losing each other.

* * *

Next time on Fazbear's Gauntlet...

_He reached for a bite of garlic, only to remember that he had already finished the clove..._


	22. Entrant 22: Wario

Entrant 22: Wario

**Night 1**

12 AM

The yellow-clad man with the jagged mustache needed only one look around his surroundings to realize that something was horribly wrong.

This wasn't the pizzeria for whose employ he had applied; this was some kind of mansion. Specifically, he was in one of the living rooms. Three cozy armchairs encircled a pair of tables, one round and one square, and several blue lamps lined the walls. Above the ornately trimmed fireplace hung a mirror, and to the right sat a crude but elegant painting.

From somewhere in the room, an antiquated phone rang.

"Hello?" the message began. "Oh, thank god! You're in the house, right? Allow me to introduce myself."

"Yes, I'm in the house, whatever that's supposed to mean," grumbled Wario. "Now, where's the pizzeria? I'm supposed to be there, not here."

"What is important is for you to get out of there! I know someone hired you to watch over the house tonight, because the family that is living there is on vacation, Blah blah blah!"

"What family?"

"Well, I don't know who told you that this house needed some sort of protection, but I'm pretty sure it was a prankster! You need to get out of there! That house that you're in is apparently extremely haunted, and according to have some files that I have here, nobody has been living there for years."

Wario's heart stopped for a moment. "Wait. What's this about the house being haunted?"

"I'm not sure what kind of hauntings that exist in that house, but one thing is clear. I'm sure they try to get you by messing with your mind. You might even go crazy and see the exit door as a hallway, for example. Stay focused, alright?

Wario lost interest in the conversation as he looked to the camera monitor. He reached for a bite of garlic in his pocket, only to remember that he had already finished his last clove.

"Watch the power meter to make sure you don't need to charge them all the way back up. If someone should come in over at the left-hand side, quickly look to the opposite side of the room and wait. Don't look at your camera, just...wait. You don't want to make eye contact! Understand?"

Wario mumbled something under his breath and waved his hand to wherever he thought the phone was.

"Though, in this room they might sneak behind you as well; I'm guessing you will then see them in the mirror above the fireplace. If this should happen, immediately pull up your camera to make them go away. Got it? You should also watch them on cameras as often as you can, as it somehow makes them go a bit slower... I think?"

For a moment, his eyes fluttered to sleep, but then he remembered mention of the house being haunted and jolted himself back awake.

"Once the sun rises, you are free to look for the exit. But remember, as I said, you might have trouble finding it. Heck, they might even shut the doors and windows completely! If you don't find a way out by tomorrow night, I'll give you another call. But do not... and I repeat, DO NOT stay in the same room two nights in a row, okay? That will make you easier to find. Good night."

The phone clicked into deathly silence, leaving Wario to mull about.

1 AM

Against the phone man's warnings, Wario sneaked out of the living room into the next room over, which turned out to be pitch dark. Menacing clattering and banging rang throughout the gathering dark, urging him to reach for a light switch. For a moment, he shut his eyes as the light flooded what turned out to be a small bathroom. To the left sat a porcelain toilet and sink with a mirror mounted above. To the right was a matching bathtub partly obstructed by the door. In front of him was a long closet with a pair of push mops leaning against the wall.

As Wario stepped further in, his foot hit a crudely S-shaped object with a red knob on one end lying on the ground. He picked it up and inspected it, picking his nose in thought. After a while, he stuffed the object in his pocket, letting it hang out.

"Maybe I could sell it off somehow," he mused. "It's not going to fetch much, but...oh, well."

Curiosity urged him to open the mirror above the sink, behind which he found a medicine cabinet with an assortment of powerful pills inside.

"Ooh. Now, these will fetch a pretty penny."

A round of loud, haunting breathing alerted Wario to an apparition approaching the doorway: a black twintail-haired, blank-eyed girl in a red long-sleeve dress with a little orange strip on the end, an orange neckerchief clipped at the chest with a golden skull brooch, black tights, red shoes, and an orange tiara atop her head. In a panic, Wario lumped into the bathtub and crouched down, waiting for the apparition to pass.

After what felt like an eternity, he peeked over the rim of the tub and crept out of the bathroom.

2 AM

He soon found himself wandering into a bedroom with a large, wiry bed mounted near the center of the far wall. Tall, black lamps flanked this bed to either side, and nine candlelit lanterns hung from the ceiling just above it. Looking around, he thought back on what the phone caller had said, something about the cameras. At the foot of the bed, he spotted an old tablet with a slightly smudged screen.

He wiped it clean and tapped it to life. Therein, he saw one view after another of the different rooms of the mansion. But then, something caught his eye: another apparition, this one of a green dinosaur-like zombie with a round snout, covered in spatters of blood.

"Hmm?" said Wario as he flipped back to the view of the Hallway just in time to see the apparition disappear.

His spine crawled.

"PFVVVT" something went, loosing a foul stench.

"If anyone asks, that was me," whispered Wario with a mischievous grin on his face as he slunk out of the bedroom...

3 AM

...and into another bedroom. This one had several delicately decorated chairs clustered around a small, square table. To his left was a massive white curtain with a shaded lamp standing in front of it. To his right, he saw an open double curtain in front of a recessed queen-sized bed. A crystalline chandelier hung from the ceiling over the chairs.

He turned on the lamp and saw the silhouette of yet another apparition, this one of a tall, lanky plumber with a cap. Wario thought for a moment about turning off the lamp, but he decided against it as he watched the silhouette slink away.

Remembering the tablet in his hand, he flipped it back to life and checked the views of the cameras. This time, he saw no signs of any apparitions, but again, his spine crawled, urging him to move on.

But first, he decided, he would take a brief nap.

4 AM

After he woke up, he crept out of the bedroom and into what appeared to be a playroom with a small child's tent and a bunch of foam puzzle pieces strewn about the floor. Nearby, there was a flatscreen TV set mounted atop a wooden dresser.

As Wario looked into the tablet once more, he thought he had spotted another approaching apparition coming from inside the TV. This one was of a portly plumber with blue overalls, a red shirt with a matching cap, white gloves, brown shoes, and a thick, black mustache. At first, he dismissed it as some hallucination, but every time he glanced into the TV, he saw it coming closer and closer, until at last, it was standing in front of the dresser.

It was then that he saw something wrong with this apparition in particular: it had no head.

"GAAAAH!" Wario screamed as he raced out of the playroom, ducking and dodging to the haunting sounds echoing throughout the mansion.

5 AM

At last, he found his way into a surprisingly well-lit, brick walled cellar. Straight ahead, he saw aged double doors opening into the room. Looking to either side, he heard no sign of any more apparitions. His victory assured, he decided to bolt for the door, but his legs froze as he found himself face to face with a twisted mirror image of himself to the left of the doorway.

"Is that...me...?" he gasped, but as he tried to shake his head clear, the apparition lurched forward with its arms thrust backward and its mouth open.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAHROOAAAA!" it shrieked.

Wario was never seen again. The only sign that he had ever been in the building was an empty yellow cap.

* * *

Next time on Fazbear's Gauntlet...

_Kimi to wakachiau kibou to yorokobi  
__Kurosu suru sono tabi fukamaru kizuna..._


	23. Entrant 23: Mega Man

Entrant 23: Mega Man

**Night 5**

12 AM

It was Mega Man's last trial night.

For the past week, he had stood watch at night in the infamous Freddy Fazbear's Pizza, all the while dodging homicidal animatronic animals, checking security cameras, and managing power in his flashlight. Were his weapon systems not disabled, he would have gladly fought back, but then, he would've not only been fired; he would've been deemed a lethal weapon, and therefore banned from the premises. Of course, being a terror to humanity was the last thing the Blue Bomber wanted, the second to last being his dismemberment at the claws and fangs of the animatronics-which, while nothing compared to the Robot Masters he was used to fighting, weapons or no, he had to follow established protocol to deal with.

Soon, the phone rang for the fifth time that week.

"Hello, hello?" said the man at the other end of the line. "Hey, good job, night 5! Um, hey, um, keep a close eye on things tonight, ok? Um, from what I understand, the building is on lockdown, uh, no one is allowed in or out, y'know, especially concerning any...previous employees."

Mega Man was unsure at the moment, but this, in particular, piqued his interest.

"Um, when we get it all sorted out, we may move you to the day shift, a position just became...available. Uh, we don't have a replacement for your shift yet, but we're working on it. Uh, we're going to try to contact the original restaurant owner. Uh, I think the name of the place was...'Fredbear's Family Diner' or something like that."

"Remind me to check that out," Mega Man noted.

"It's been closed for years though, I doubt we'll be able to track anybody down. Well, just get through one more night! Uh, hang in there! Goodnight!"

The phone clicked into deathly silence, leaving Mega Man alone with the animatronics once more.

2 AM

Another hour, another animatronic to wait to pass as Mega Man froze in front of the faceless lavender bunny animatronic with his trusty Freddy mask. Once the animatronic left the office, he lifted the mask, raised the security monitor, and wound the music box in the Prize Corner, once more placating the Puppet lurking within the massive present box at the center of the camera's view.

As he lowered the monitor, he engaged his night vision and spotted several animatronics milling about in the hallway. One of them, a toy version of Freddy Fazbear, was bumping against the back wall repeatedly.

Mega Man sighed and seated his head in his hand, tapping the side of his helmet to engage his onboard radio. His face lit up as it played a familiar upbeat techno J-rock tune.

"Oh, cool," he chirped. "Futatsu no Mirai." And he continued his office routine in time to the song.

_Hajimari o tsugeru kane no koe_  
_Toki ga kawari_  
_Kinou uchikeshi narihibiku yo_

_Daijoubu kimi ga koko ni ireba_  
_Hitorijanai sore ga yuuki okosaseru_

_Fukigenna sora mabushii hodo_  
_Terashi daseru taiyou ni nareru_

_Kimi to wakachiau kibou to yorokobi_  
_Kurosu suru sono tabi fukamaru kizuna_

_Mirai to genzai pazuru o awasete_  
_Kokoro tsunagaru bokura no yume_  
_Akashi ni naru_

"Shame they never made a full version of that song," sighed Mega Man as it ended. "It was my favorite opening theme."

Suddenly, he twitched to a chorus of metallic footsteps thundering throughout the building. He engaged his night vision mode and looked into the hallway, where to his horror, he saw all of the animatronics charging toward the office at the same time. Hurriedly, he slipped on the Freddy head, picked up the flashlight, and flashed it down the hallway. He managed to ward off some of them, including a tattered pirate fox animatronic, but the rest of them made it in and scanned Mega Man's masked face.

Once the last of the animatronics left the office, Mega Man slipped off the mask and slapped his fist into his open palm.

"Hey," he whispered. "I've got an idea!"

4 AM

Another animatronic passed through after scanning Mega Man's mask before Mega Man decided it was time to put his plan into action.

He sneaked out of the office, partly aware of the young boy's laughter ringing through the building, until he came to a metal door with a crudely taped sign that read, "Parts and Storage."

"There must be something in here," he whispered to himself, opening the door and entering the cluttered but barren space therein. Engaging his night vision mode again, he looked around the room, spotting dismembered animatronic parts strewn about the floor. And sure enough, at the far end, there lay an old bare endoskeleton.

Mega Man scooped it up, plastered it to his back and limbs...

5 AM

...and scuttled to the Prize Corner. He dismounted the endoskeleton near the base of the present box and ejected his radio from his helmet. After a pause to frown upon the thought of sacrificing his favorite music, he mounted the radio inside the endoskeleton's torso and set it to play it on an endless loop. Once the music started, he sneaked out of the Prize Corner, slunk through the hallways, ducked and dodged the passing animatronics, and reached his post.

He reached for the Freddy mask again but instead picked up the security monitor. From the camera's feed, he heard the song increasingly drowned out by the thundering footsteps of the advancing animatronic horde.

"BYYLLOWAARRGLRRGH" they gurgled as they dogpiled the endoskeleton and box, knocking it over and spilling out its Puppet-like occupant.

The next thing Mega Man knew, they were clawing and scratching at each other, trying to haul the bare endoskeleton to stuff it inside a suit. At this sight, he shrank away from the monitor, cupped his hand to his face, and sputtered and squeaked, desperately trying not to laugh.

6 AM

The doorbell of the morning signaled the end of Mega Man's last night at Freddy Fazbear's Pizza. Management offered him a chance to serve as a new animatronic until the others were repaired, but he declined.

* * *

Next time on Fazbear's Gauntlet...

_He paid more attention to the book in his hands than to the man on the phone..._


	24. Entrant 24: Robin

Entrant 24: Robin

**Night 1**

12 AM

The white-haired bookworm leaned back in his creaky swivel chair and folded his feet atop the desk in the musty office space. He tracked his eyes between the two open security doors, the monitor, and the whirring desk fan before opening a book with an elaborately decorated yellow cover and began reading. Soon, the phone rang.

"Hello, hello?" the message began. "Uh, I wanted to record a message for you to help you get settled in on your first night. Um, I actually worked in that office before you. I'm finishing up my last week now, as a matter of fact. So, I know it can be a bit overwhelming, but I'm here to tell you there's nothing to worry about. Uh, you'll do fine. So, let's just focus on getting you through your first week. Okay?"

Robin tilted his head and scratched his scalp. He paid more attention to the book in his hands than to the man on the phone, but nonetheless kept his ears peeled to garner any useful information.

"So, just be aware, the characters do tend to wander a bit. Uh, they're left in some kind of free roaming mode at night. Uh...Something about their servos locking up if they get turned off for too long."

The message urged Robin to stop reading and look to the security monitor resting near his feet, which he lifted away and set on the floor as he sat upright.

"Uh, now concerning your safety, the only real risk to you as a night watchman here, if any, is the fact that these characters, uh, if they happen to see you after hours probably won't recognize you as a person. They'll p-most likely see you as a metal endoskeleton without its costume on. Now since that's against the rules here at Freddy Fazbear's Pizza, they'll probably try to...forcefully stuff you inside a Freddy Fazbear suit."

He pinched his chin as he cradled the security monitor in his hand and blipped it to life. It defaulted to a view of the show stage, where Freddy, Bonnie, and Chica stood in their familiar spots. A crude, 8-bit mini map of the entire building adorned the lower right corner, which Robin tapped with his finger to flip between views of each room.

"So, you could imagine how having your head forcefully pressed inside one of those could cause a bit of discomfort...and death."

Robin paused to lower the monitor.

"Y-Yeah, they don't tell you these things when you sign up. But hey, first day should be a breeze. I'll chat with you tomorrow. Uh, check those cameras, and remember to close the doors only if absolutely necessary. Gotta conserve power. Alright, good night."

The phone clicked into deathly silence, leaving Robin to notice that the animatronics had begun to move away from the stage.

3 AM

He shut the East Door just in time to bar Chica and Freddy from entering the office. Once he was sure that they were gone, he raised the door and looked to the monitor. He struggled to stay awake as he lowered the West security door and listened to Foxy bang on it from outside. He glimpsed the animatronic slinking away through the office window. Looking back at the monitor, he glimpsed the purple cylinder curtain of Pirate's Cove through the monitor, watching Foxy return there.

"51%," read the power indicator.

Robin prepared to lower the monitor, but then paused to mull over it, wondering if there was a way to feed more power into the building. Were that the case, he guessed, he could simply leave the security doors shut for the remainder of his shift free of worry.

But as he lowered the monitor, he found himself face to face with a lifeless golden bear animatronic suit similar to Freddy slumped in front of the desk. He shut his eyes and shook his head, but when he opened his eyes, the Golden Freddy suit disappeared. He paused to ponder the existence of such an apparition, but then shrugged it off as a hallucination and returned attention to his post.

5 AM

"6%," read the power indicator as Robin left both doors down, waiting for Bonnie and Chica to leave.

"Now's my chance," he muttered.

It was then that his eyes fell upon the desk fan, whose power cord his eyes tracked to the outlet in the front wall. He raised his hand and let a surge of mystical electricity gather around it. This surge soon swelled into a brilliant, red-gold bolt.

"I've got to make sure I don't accidentally overload the building," he thought aloud, charging the bolt until it reached acceptable mass. "This should do. ARCTHUNDER!"

He fired a small but brilliant ball of electricity and watched the socket swallow it down. A loud gurgling noise ran through the building, the lights flickered, and mechanical whirs boomed soon afterward. Robin's eyes glimpsed the power indicator, which now read, "ZEEKY!"

And the next thing he knew...

CLUNKCLUNKCLUNKCLUNKCLUNKCLUNK

The doors flew up and down repeatedly.

PFOONKAPFOONKAPFOONKAPFOONKAPFOONKAPFOONKA

The appliances activated and deactivated repeatedly.

CLIKCLIKCLIKCLIKCLIKCLIKCLIKCLIK

The lights oscillated on and off.

"AAA" *clump* "AAA" *clump* "Happy-" *clump* "AAA" *clump* "Starving!" *clump* "Favorite pi-" clump* "AAA" *clump* "Let's get-" *clump*

And all the animatronics raced through every hall in the building, tripping over themselves all the way.

Finally, something went, "PFZZZRT!" in the ceiling. There was a great shower of sparks, from which Robin shielded his head with his arms, and everything went dark and silent.

"...Uh-oh..." said Robin.

6 AM

The doorbell of the morning signaled the end of Robin's first-and only-night at Freddy Fazbear's Pizza. He was fired for property damage, general unprofessionalism, tampering with the animatronics, and at least three different noise complaints.

* * *

Next time on Fazbear's Gauntlet...

_He reached for his satchel to draw something-anything-that he could use, but then stayed his hand..._


	25. Entrant 25: Toon Link

Entrant 25: Toon Link

**Night 1**

12 AM

He took a deep breath and entered the office, which featured a long, rectangular window to the hallway outside, a dirt-streaked desk, a wire trash can, and a cardboard box stuffed with empty costume pieces and props. Plastered upon the walls were old drawings of the mascots of an old pizzeria, and matching figurines rested upon the desk. The remains of a brown bear animatronic suit hung outside the only doorway. Wires hung from the ceiling like tangled clusters of vines.

The complete ensemble gave the young chibi incarnation of the keeper of the Triforce of Courage the creeps. He reached for his satchel to draw something-anything-that he could use, but then stayed his hand as the phone rang to hail an incoming message.

"Hey-Hey! Glad you came back for another night!" said the man at the other end of the phone. "I promise it'll be a lot more interesting this time. We found some-some great new relics over the weekend. And we're out tracking down a new lead, right now. So-uh lemme just update real quick, then you can get to work."

"Like, the attraction opens in like, a week, so we had to make sure everything works, and nothing catches on fire! Uh-when the place opens, people will come in at the opposite end of the building, and work their way towards you, then past you and out the exit. Uh-yeah. You've officially become a part of the attraction. Uh-You'll be starring as... A security guard!"

Toon Link couldn't help but crack an amused smile as he spotted the monitors at either end of the office.

"So not only will you be monitoring the people on the cameras as they pass through, y'know, to make sure no one steals anything or makes out in the corner, but you'll also be a part of the show. It'll make it feel really authentic I think. Uh... Now let me tell you about what's new. We found another set of drawings, always nice, and a Foxy head! Which we think to be authentic... then again it might just be another crappy cosplay, and we found a desk fan, very old school - metal, though, so watch the fingers. Uh-heh..."

He turned his gaze to the wires hanging from the ceiling, and he cupped his hand to his chin. Then, he trotted to the nearest instrument panel...

"Uh... Right now the place is basically just, you know, flashing lights, spooky props. Uh, I honestly thought we would have more by now, uh, we don't have something really cool by next week, we may have to suit you up in a furry suit, and make you walk around saying, 'Boo'...hehe, uh... But, you know, like I said, we're trying to track down a good lead right now."

...and whirred it to life with a touch of his finger. Flipping the camera's view from room to room, he noticed two gray boxes near the 8-bit mini map. "Play Audio," said one. "Map Toggle," said the other. He tapped the first box first, hearing the recorded laugh of a young boy. He waited for a while as the box switched places with a row of dots and then came back. Next, he touched the second box to flip to a view of the insides of the vents. He noticed that the "Play Audio" box was replaced by small print instructions for sealing each vent.

"Uh, some guy who helped design one of the buildings says there was, like, an extra room that got boarded up or- uh, something like that. So, we're gonna take a peek and see what we can find. Uh, for now just get comfortable with the new setup, um... You can check the security cameras over to your right with a click of that blue button. Uh, you can toggle between the hall cams and the vent cams..."

He then lowered the camera and trotted to the other instrument panel.

"Uh, then over to your far left, uh, you can flip up your maintenance panel. Y'know, use this to reboot any systems that may go offline. Heh. So, in trying to make the place feel vintage we may have overdone it a bit, hehe... Some of this equipment is barely functional. Yeah, I wasn't joking about the fire. Tha-tha-that's a real risk."

Stopping by the doorway, he flipped up the maintenance panel to see the luminescent green text, which read "audio devises, camera system, ventilation, reboot all," and "exit."

"Uh, the most important thing you want to watch for is the ventilation. Look, this place will give you the spooks, man, and if you let that ventilation go offline, then you'll start seeing some crazy stuff, man. Keep that air flowin'. Okay, keep an eye on things, and we'll try to have something new for ya tomorrow night."

The phone clicked silent, leaving Toon Link to explore the camera system and maintenance panel throughout the night. All the while, he couldn't shake the feeling that something terrible was about to happen, no matter how many times he glimpsed the pulsating Triforce of Courage embedded in his hand to ensure himself that this feeling was unfounded.

6 AM

The doorbell of the morning signaled the end of Toon Link's first night at Fazbear's Fright: The Horror Attraction.

**Night 2**

12 AM

Toon Link marched back into the office and scanned its eerie interior as the phone rang to greet him.

"Hey, man- okay, I have some awesome news for you!" said the voice. "First of all, we found some vintage audio training cassettes! Dude, these are, like, prehistoric! I think they were, like, training tapes for like, other employees or something like that. So, I thought we could, like, have them playing, like, over the speakers as people walk through the attraction. Dude, that makes this feel legit, man."

"But I have an even better surprise for you, and you're not gonna believe this- we found one. A REAL one. Uh-oh-uh gotta go man- uh, well-well look, i-it's in there somewhere, I'm-I'm sure you'll see it. Okay, I'll leave you with some of this great audio that I found! Talk to you later, man!"

As the training tape played, Toon Link whirred the fritzy security monitor to life. It defaulted to a view of the tattered silhouette of a golden rabbit-like animatronic suit in what appeared to be an arcade room. Soon, the camera view fizzled with static, and when it passed, the animatronic was gone. Flipping through the security cameras, he noted that the tattered animatronic was moving toward the air vents in another room. His eyes roved to the "Play Audio" box on the screen, and he tapped it with his finger.

The recorded boy's laughter did little to deter the runaway animatronic, so Toon Link flipped to the camera view of the ventilation system. When he spotted the animatronic crawling through the vent, he he tapped a box that said "seal vent", awaiting its progress bar to fill. Once he was sure that the animatronic had retreated, he returned the monitor's view to the hallway cameras.

Suddenly, as Toon Link flipped to another camera view, a deformed boy's face obstructed the screen. He flipped to another camera's view, rubbed his eyes, and then flipped back to the first camera view. The boy's face was gone.

"A hallucination, maybe?" he wondered aloud.

2 AM

But as he tried to flip to another camera view, the monitor went black. "error," flashed a line of red text at the top left corner.

Thus, he lowered the monitor and trotted to the maintenance panel, but his way was barred by what appeared to be the burnt visage of a decayed animatronic fox with an eyepatch over its right eye.

"HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH" it hissed as it lunged into Toon Link's face and then just as quickly vanished.

"I'm alive?!" he gasped as he rose to his feet and shook his head clear. "Why am I alive?!"

As he flipped up the maintenance panel and rebooted all the systems, he peeked into the doorway and saw a faint shadow moving. He tensed up, sprinted to the security monitor, and pulled it up to see the rogue animatronic standing in a room a short distance away from the office, responding by playing the audio device once more. To his invisible relief, the animatronic slinked away to the source of the noise.

4 AM

As Toon Link finished rebooting the audio devices once again...

"HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH" hissed a decayed animatronic chicken as it waddled into his face and then just as quickly vanished.

Again, he found it hard to breathe, and he bounced back to the maintenance panel, rebooting the ventilation system. This time, he spotted the face of the rogue animatronic peering straight into the office from outside the doorway. His huge eyes fixed on his would-be assailant, he crept to the security monitor and played the audio device to lure it away.

Again and again until it went offline, he played the audio until the animatronic was a safe distance away from the office. But as he tried to flip to another camera view, the monitor went black again, urging him to return to the maintenance panel and reboot the faulty systems.

"Why again with the thing...?" he groaned, barely paying attention to the flashing red light overhead and the accompanying alarm blaring.

6 AM

The doorbell of the morning signaled the end of Toon Link's second-and last-night at Fazbear's Fright: The Horror Attraction. He never returned or explained why he left.

* * *

Next time on Fazbear's Gauntlet...

_"Okay. This is pathetic..."_


	26. Entrant 26: Bowser

Entrant 26: Bowser

**Night 1**

12 AM

Bowser, the colossal King of Koopas, prepared to sit down and assume his shift, but the creaky swivel chair gave way beneath his girth and crunched into a flat heap. He grumbled unintelligibly as he stood up, pulled a stool from the far corner of the office, and sat down at the cluttered desk. But his knees barely fit beneath, much to his dismay as the phone rang.

"Hello, hello?" said the man on the phone. "Uh, I wanted to record a message for you to help you get settled in on your first night. Um, I actually worked in that office before you. I'm finishing up my last week now, as a matter of fact. So, I know it can be a bit overwhelming, but I'm here to tell you there's nothing to worry about. Uh, you'll do fine. So, let's just focus on getting you through your first week. Okay?"

Bowser struggled to make himself comfortable, but the stool creaked beneath him as he shifted his weight.

"I swear," he grumbled. "Somebody out there's watching me and laughing like a hyena right now."

"Blah blah blah," continued the man on the phone. "Now that might sound bad, I know, but there's really nothing to worry about. Uh, the animatronic characters here do get a bit quirky at night, but do I blame them? No. If I were forced to sing those same stupid songs for twenty years and I never got a bath? I'd probably be a bit irritable at night too. So, remember, these characters hold a special place in the hearts of children and we need to show them a little respect, right? Okay."

At last, he found a comfortable position and gripped the security monitor on the desk. With a tap of his claw, he blipped the monitor active to its stage camera view of three human-sized anthropomorphic animatronics: a brown bear with a black top hat, a lavender bunny with a red bowtie, and a yellow duck-like chicken with a white bib that read "LET'S EAT!" in bold, yellow type.

Again, the stool creaked beneath him.

"Seriously, I have enough trouble living down all my losses to Mario," grumbled Bowser. "I don't need anybody else mocking me right now."

"Uh, now concerning your safety," continued the man on the phone, "the only real risk to you as a night watchman here, if any, is the fact that these characters, uh, if they happen to see you after hours probably won't recognize you as a person. They'll p-most likely see you as a metal endoskeleton without its costume on. Now since that's against the rules here at Freddy Fazbear's Pizza, they'll probably try to...forcefully stuff you inside a Freddy Fazbear suit. Um, now, that wouldn't be so bad if the suits themselves weren't filled with crossbeams, wires, and animatronic devices, especially around the facial area. So, you could imagine how having your head forcefully pressed inside one of those could cause a bit of discomfort...and death. Uh, the only parts of you that would likely see the light of day again would be your eyeballs and teeth when they pop out the front of the mask, heh."

Bowser took little interest in the phone message, flipping through the monitor's views throughout the building.

"Y-Yeah, they don't tell you these things when you sign up. But hey, first day should be a breeze. I'll chat with you tomorrow. Uh, check those cameras, and remember to close the doors only if absolutely necessary. Gotta conserve power. Alright, good night."

The phone clicked into deathly silence, leaving Bowser to continue milling about with the monitor.

1 AM

Only once Bowser was done fiddling with the monitor did he think to recall the phone man's words.

"Stuff me into a suit? Ha!" he scoffed. "I may not beat Mario often...if at all...but I still give him a run for his money every time we clash. These things are nothing compared to him."

He picked up the monitor once more and flipped through its views again, seeking out the rogue animatronics to destroy. His search proved surprisingly futile, though a hoarse groan in his ear stirred him to twitch.

"Hmm?" he grumbled, reaching to clean out his ear.

Suddenly, the monitor was forced down, and Bowser found himself face to face with Chica, the yellow chicken animatronic, poised to kill him.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA" she screeched as she attacked.

2 AM

...but fortunately for Bowser, he had withdrawn into his shell in panic to protect himself. Chica could only futilely strain her servos as she tried to hoist him away to-

"Hey! Enough with the fat jokes!" shouted Bows...hey! You're not supposed to be talking to me! I'm the narrator!

"And what right does that give you to poke fun at the mighty King Bowser's weight?! Nature equates mass with power, you know!"

This isn't nature, sir. This is you trying to survive-oh, look. There's Bonnie.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA"

...and evidently, he can't lift you either... (sigh) Let's just go back to the story, shall we?

"Can we just get to the part where I burn this dump to the ground? Junior's birthday is coming up."

Once the animatronics manage to cart you away, we'll just have to watch you-

"Uh, in case you haven't noticed..."

Hey. Who's writing this story? You or me?

"Ugh, fine."

3 AM

It wasn't long before all four animatronics crowded the office, all vainly struggling to so much as budge the withdrawn Bowser, much less lift him to carry him away and stuff him inside a suit.

"Okay. This is pathetic," he grumbled.

With a wild spin of his shell, he flung the four animatronics every which-way throughout the office, sending them all crashing into mangled heaps of scrap metal and fake fur. He popped out, planted his feet as he stood up, and loosed a mighty stream of fire from his mouth into the ceiling. The flames engulfed the wires hanging overhead, sending sparks dancing about in a brilliant display of heat and light.

Before long, the Koopa King stood tall amidst the towering inferno that was once Freddy Fazbear's Pizza.

"Junior's going to be so happy," he squeaked under his breath as he marched away with a big grin on his face.

6 AM

The doorbell of the morning signaled the end of Bowser's first-and only-night at Freddy Fazbear's Pizza. He was fired for massive property damage, general unprofessionalism, odor, fire, and at least 10 different noise complaints.

* * *

Next time on Fazbear's Gauntlet...

_"The routine instructions. All have being order."_


	27. Entrant 27: ROB

Entrant 27: R.O.B.

**Night 1**

12 AM

A lone metallic figure sat in the middle of the spooky office, surrounded by a rectangular window to the hallway outside, a dirt-streaked desk, a wire trash can, and a cardboard box stuffed with empty costume pieces and props. Plastered upon the walls were old drawings of the mascots of an old pizzeria, and matching figurines rested upon the desk. The remains of a brown bear animatronic suit hung outside the only doorway. Wires hung from the ceiling like tangled clusters of vines.

The phone rang to hail an incoming message.

"Hey-Hey! Glad you came back for another night! I promise it'll be a lot more interesting this time. We found some-some great new relics over the weekend. And we're out tracking down a new lead, right now. So-uh lemme just update real quick, then you can get to work. Like, the attraction opens in like, a week, so we had to make sure everything works, and nothing catches on fire! Uh-when the place opens, people will come in at the opposite end of the building, and work their way towards you, then past you and out the exit. Uh-yeah. You've officially become a part of the attraction. Uh-You'll be starring as...a security guard!

"So not only will you be monitoring the people on the cameras as they pass through, y'know, to make sure no one steals anything or makes out in the corner, but you'll also be a part of the show. It'll make it feel really authentic I think. Uh... Now let me tell you about what's new. We found another set of drawings, always nice, and a Foxy head! Which we think to be authentic... then again it might just be another crappy cosplay, and we found a desk fan, very old school - metal, though, so watch the fingers. Uh-heh...

"Uh... Right now the place is basically just, you know, flashing lights, spooky props. Uh, I honestly thought we would have more by now, uh, we don't have something really cool by next week, we may have to suit you up in a furry suit, and make you walk around saying, 'Boo'... *hehe*, uh... But, you know, like I said, we're trying to track down a good lead right now. Uh, some guy who helped design one of the buildings says there was, like, an extra room that got boarded up or- uh, something like that. So, we're gonna take a peek and see what we can find.

"Uh, for now just get comfortable with the new setup, um... You can check the security cameras over to your right with a click of that blue button. Uh, you can toggle between the hall cams and the vent cams... Uh, then over to your far left, uh, you can flip up your maintenance panel. Y'know, use this to reboot any systems that may go offline. Heh. So, in trying to make the place feel vintage we may have overdone it a bit, hehe... Some of this equipment is barely functional. Yeah, I wasn't joking about the fire. Tha-tha-that's a real risk. Uh, the most important thing you want to watch for is the ventilation. Look, this place will give you the spooks, man, and if you let that ventilation go offline, then you'll start seeing some crazy stuff, man. Keep that air flowin'.

"Okay, keep an eye on things, and we'll try to have something new for ya tomorrow night."

The phone clicked into deathly silence, leaving the Robotic Operating Buddy to whir into action.

"The routine instructions," he droned. "All have being order."

From his position, R.O.B. scooted to the right side of the office, gleaned the security monitor in his boxy hands, and flipped it active. Flipping the camera's view from room to room, he noticed two gray boxes near the 8-bit mini map. "Play Audio," said one. "Map Toggle," said the other. He tapped the first box first, hearing the recorded laugh of a young boy as the box switched places with a row of dots and then came back. Next, he touched the second box to flip to a view of the insides of the vents. He noticed that the "Play Audio" box was replaced by small print instructions for sealing each vent.

Scanning the instructions, he tapped the corresponding button of the nearest vent and watched it fasten shut. After a while of waiting, he unsealed the vent.

He continued this routine until it was almost time for his shift to end. Drawing a small memory card from a compartment in his base, he inserted it into where his mouth should be and fed it a backup copy of himself. This procedure complete, he then stowed away the card.

6 AM

The doorbell of the morning signaled the end of R.O.B.'s first night at Fazbear's Fright: The Horror Attraction.

**Night 2**

12 AM

R.O.B. scooted back into the office and awaited the return of the supervising caller. Soon enough, the phone rang.

"Hey, man- okay, I have some awesome news for you! First of all, we found some vintage audio training cassettes! Dude, these are, like, prehistoric! I think they were, like, training tapes for like, other employees or something like that. So, I thought we could, like, have them playing, like, over the speakers as people walk through the attraction. Dude, that makes this feel legit, man."

"But I have an even better surprise for you, and you're not gonna believe this- we found one. A REAL one. Uh-oh-uh gotta go man- uh, well-well look, i-it's in there somewhere, I'm-I'm sure you'll see it. Okay, I'll leave you with some of this great audio that I found! Talk to you later, man!"

R.O.B. suspected little as he flipped the security monitor to life. It defaulted to a view of the tattered silhouette of a golden rabbit-like animatronic suit. The monitor fizzled out one moment, and the next, it showed that it had disappeared.

"I must the location," droned R.O.B.

He flipped through the monitor's different views of the camera, trying to find the animatronic. When suddenly, a deformed boy's face obstructed the screen. He pulled the monitor away to find himself face to face with the burnt visage of a humanoid animatronic with a propeller cap..

"HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH" it hissed as it lunged into R.O.B.'S face and then just as quickly vanished.

"ERROR! ERROR!" blared the now nonfunctional R.O.B. as he pinballed around the office, spinning his head and flailing his arms haphazardly. He couldn't reboot himself in time to face the golden rabbit animatronic suit as it reached his location.

"HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH" it hissed as it slinked into the office.

R.O.B. was never seen again. The only sign that he had ever been in the building was a dirty memory card.

* * *

Next time on Fazbear's Gauntlet...

_Her huge, saucer-like eyes blinked twice in the dim light of the hallway..._


	28. Entrant 28: Jigglypuff

Entrant 28: Jigglypuff

**Night 1**

12 AM

tap tap tap

The pale pink balloon Pokemon batted her stubby arm on the tip of her treasured marker/microphone, rocking back and forth in the creaky, old swivel chair. Eventually, she hopped down from her perch and walked to the West doorway, only taking passing notice of the two buttons mounted beside it.

[Hmm,] she sighed. [It was nice of those humans to let me sit here tonight. If only I could find someone who could listen to my song all the way through...]

At once, the phone rang.

"Hello, hello?" said the man at the other end of the line. "Uh, I wanted to record a message for you to help you get settled in on your first night. Um, I actually worked in that office before you. I'm finishing up my last week now, as a matter of fact. So, I know it can be a bit overwhelming, but I'm here to tell you there's nothing to worry about. Uh, you'll do fine. So, let's just focus on getting you through your first week. Okay?"

She didn't pay much attention to the message that played, instead leaning out the West doorway as far as she could go without toppling over. Her huge, saucer-like eyes blinked twice in the dim light of the hallway, and she could've sworn she saw something move at the far end.

"Blah blah blah, now that might sound bad, I know, but there's really nothing to worry about. Uh, the animatronic characters here do get a bit quirky at night, but do I blame them? No. If I were forced to sing those same stupid songs for twenty years and I never got a bath? I'd probably be a bit irritable at night too. So, remember, these characters hold a special place in the hearts of children and we need to show them a little respect, right? Okay."

As she returned to the chair and reviewed the items strewn about the desk, her hand came to rest on the old security monitor.

"So, just be aware, the characters do tend to wander a bit. Uh, they're left in some kind of free roaming mode at night. Uh...Something about their servos locking up if they get turned off for too long. Uh, they used to be allowed to walk around during the day too. But then there was The Bite of '87. Yeah. I-It's amazing that the human body can live without the frontal lobe, you know?"

As she whirred the monitor to life, it defaulted to a view of the show stage, whereupon stood the faint silhouettes of three animal animatronics: a brown bear with a black top hat, a lavender bunny with a red Bowie, and a yellow duck-like chicken with a white bib that read "LET'S EAT" in bold, yellow type. She could've sworn there was a fourth lurking somewhere, so she flipped the monitor's view throughout the building.

"Uh, now concerning your safety, the only real risk to you as a night watchman here, if any, is the fact that these characters, uh, if they happen to see you after hours probably won't recognize you as a person. They'll p-most likely see you as a metal endoskeleton without its costume on. Now since that's against the rules here at Freddy Fazbear's Pizza, they'll probably try to...forcefully stuff you inside a Freddy Fazbear suit."

At this, her ears perked, and her eyes widened in slight worry.

"Um, now, that wouldn't be so bad if the suits themselves weren't filled with crossbeams, wires, and animatronic devices, especially around the facial area. So, you could imagine how having your head forcefully pressed inside one of those could cause a bit of discomfort...and death. Uh, the only parts of you that would likely see the light of day again would be your eyeballs and teeth when they pop out the front of the mask, heh."

But then, she paused, sputtered, and then burst out laughing. [But I'm not even human!] she guffawed as she set down the monitor.

"Y-Yeah, they don't tell you these things when you sign up. But hey, first day should be a breeze. I'll chat with you tomorrow. Uh, check those cameras, and remember to close the doors only if absolutely necessary. Gotta conserve power. Alright, good night."

The phone clicked into deathly silence, leaving Jigglypuff alone to her fate.

4 AM

A hoarse groan roused Jigglypuff from her slumber in the chair, and she opened her eyes, she found herself face to face with the lavender rabbit animatronic.

[AAAH!] she screamed, almost falling out of the chair as she curled herself into a ball.

But nothing happened.

The animatronic simply stared lifelessly at the startled balloon Pokemon for a moment, and then turned away.

[Huh?] mused Jigglypuff, uncurling to see the animatronic leave the Office.

She peeked outside the door to see the animatronic pacing down the hallway. Against her better judgment, she left the hollow sanctuary of the office and followed it.

5 AM

At last, she ambled into the Dining Area to see the empty Main Stage.

[A stage?! No way!] she squealed in excitement.

She leaped onto the stage infill view of the advancing animatronics. Without further ado, she took a deep breath, held her marker to her mouth, and sang.

_Lay down your head and I'll sing you a lullaby_  
_Back to the years of loo-li lai-lay_  
_And I'll sing you to sleep and I'll sing you tomorrow_  
_Bless you with love for the road that you go_

_May you sail far to the far fields of fortune  
__With diamonds and pearls at your head and your feet  
__And may you need never to banish misfortune  
__May you find kindness in all that you meet_

_May there always be angels to watch over you  
__To guide you each step of the way  
__To guard you and keep you safe from all harm  
__Loo-li, loo-li, lai-lay_

She was about to start the next verse when she opened her eyes to find that all the animatronics had stopped moving. Shocked, she hopped to the nearest one - Freddy - and poked and prodded at him. At last, she caught a glimpse of his eyes, sealed tightly shut from mechanized slumber.

[RRAAAAAAAAAAGH!] she puffed in a rage, uncapping her marker. [EVERY! DAMN! TIME!]

In a flurry of squeaks, she scribbled assorted doodles and squiggles all over the faces of the inactive animatronics. Her petty vengeance exacted, she marched out the front door, grumbling to herself over the lack of an audience who would pay her attention. Little did she suspect that she has exorcised them of the vengeful souls of four murdered children.

6 AM

The doorbell of the morning signaled the end of Jigglypuff's first-and only-night at Freddy Fazbear's Pizza. The only signs that she had ever been in the building were the four deactivated animatronics and a message covered in ink smudges.

* * *

Next time on Fazbear's Gauntlet...

_"This ain't right," he thought as he tapped his scouter..._


	29. Entrant 29: Falco

Entrant 29: Falco

**The night before accepting the job offer**

12 AM

Ace pilot. Daredevil. Gangster. He had many titles throughout his career as a bounty hunter, but security guard? Why, Falco wondered, besides being strapped for cash did he even consider the job? Compared to the life he once lived, standing watch and guarding a bunch of animatronics seemed like a snorefest. Rumors abounded of an employee gone rogue, luring five children to their deaths with an animatronic suit, but Falco dismissed them as little more than cheap gossip.

But tonight, he wasn't at the infamous pizzeria; he was in a child's bedroom.

"This ain't right," he thought as he tapped his scouter to find that it wasn't working.

He heard faint, evil laughter coming from the right door of the room. To the left was another door, identical in every way except the way it opened and closed. Ahead of him lay a closet with two fence-like folding doors. Two dressers flanked either side of the closet. One had seven drawers and was crowned with a purple fan, alarm clock, and lava lamp. The other had three drawers and housed a shaded lamp atop itself.

He reached for his blaster but instead found an old security guard's flashlight. Deciding that it would have to do, he dismounted it from his hip and flicked it on.

"I guess this'll have to do," he grumbled.

He paced to the right door and shone the flashlight down the hallway, barely in time to see a pair of warped eyeballs slink away at the far end. Soon, he heard menacing breathing coming from the closet nearby. But that mattered little to him as he swiveled around to see three nightmarish teddy bears scatter from atop the bed.

Finally, he looked into the closet, from wherein the decayed face of a monstrous crimson fox animatronic peered back at him.

"Geez!" he yelped as he closed the closet.

No, now wasn't the time to run around like a chicken missing its head. He had to find a way out of the house, somehow. But with no weapons and no way to communicate with his teammates, he had to rely on his wits to survive.

He detested the thought.

1 AM

He sneaked out of the bedroom and hid underneath a small table in the left hallway, waiting for the ominous footprints echoing down the hallway to pass. In the all but nonexistent light, he could've sworn he saw the tattered lavender feet of a bunny animatronic plodding along the carpet. He reached for his flashlight as he heard metallic buzzing nearby.

When he shone the light down the hallway, he spotted a tiny golden bunny doll not unlike the teddy bear in the bedroom he had left behind. Its large googly eyes stared lifelessly at the far end, where Falco redirected the light to see the lavender bunny animatronic slink back away.

2 AM

As he crept down the stairs, he stopped to ponder where all the light switches had gone in the house.

"Okay," he thought aloud. "This has gotta be a dream. I mean come on. Freaky deeky animatronics, no lights anywhere in the house, and all I've got is this flashlight from who knows where?"

He kept his eyes and ears peeled for danger, ducking and dodging behind and beneath all manner of furniture he could find along the way.

3 AM

Eventually, he stumbled into an all but blackened room and felt around, resting his wingtips on what he thought was the handle of a huge oven. At once, he realized that he was in the kitchen. From somewhere therein, an antiquated phone rang.

"Hello? Hello?" the message began. "A-Are you safe? Oh, good... You had me worried throughout all day!"

Falco tilted his head in confusion. "Hold on," he thought. "How'd this guy get the number to this house?"

"So, where are you located? The kitchen huh? I see... That's a good choice there! As you probably already know this is very dark tonight. It's cloudy and the moon is small, yeah... I'm not sure if you're able to see very much in there. But luckily, this is the kitchen we're talking about. You have an oven, or should we say, a free light source, kinda. I doubt any of those electrical ovens work but there's an old oven behind the desk there! If you put some fuel in, it should light up the room for a little while! However, be very careful. Ghosts can sense the light from very far away! And since you only have a limited supply of fuel, you should only use it when you know someone is standing in your room. Got it? This is where you must use your security cameras, effectively."

"Hang on a sec. Security cameras? What security cameras?"

"The scary thing is if you light up your room while someone is in there with you, they will for sure go away, that's a fact! However, if no one is there, they will most likely come rushing towards you and you must just... hope for the best! *chuckles* So only use your fuel when you absolutely need to. Keep at it, stay safe, stay calm. Good night."

A ring on his scouter later, he heard ominous footsteps headed his way. Quickly, he deactivated his scouter, dove inside the oven, and held his breath. In the dark, he could swear that he saw the feet of an animatronic pace by. Eventually, the animatronic moved on, and Falco crept out of the oven and slunk out of the kitchen...

4 AM

...until at last, the front door was in sight. He looked left, then right, and finally behind him to see nothing there. But he knew that this eerie calm wouldn't last, so he had to be quick. He raced for the front door and grabbed for the knob, when suddenly, the terrifying face of a golden monster bear animatronic with a top hat and a pink bowtie filled his vision.

"KRRHHHAAAAOOOORRR" it roared as it lunged at his face.

"NO, OFFICER! I SWEAR!" he screamed as he flung himself awake.

He jerked his head from side to side to find himself in the sleeping quarters of the Great Fox. In a lower bunk across the hall, he saw Fox and Krystal cuddled together beneath the empty upper bunk, gawking at him. From the bunk directly beneath his own, Slippy slipped out in a daze, rubbed his eyes, and stood up to face him.

"Oh, sorry, guys. Must'a had a bad dream."

"Go back to sleep," grumbled Slippy as he slunk back into his bunk.

Falco plopped his head back into his pillow, trying to drift back to sleep.

6 AM

The alarm clock blared the coming of dawn. Falco rejected the job offer from Freddy Fazbear's Pizza, stating that the animatronics gave him nightmares.

* * *

Next time on Fazbear's Gauntlet...

_After all he had been through with AVALANCHE and beyond, this seemed like a cakewalk to him..._


	30. Entrant 30: Cloud

Entrant 30: Cloud

**Night 5**

12 AM

The mighty guardian of the Lifestream stepped into his assigned dungeon for one more night.

Therein lay a long, rectangular window to the hallway outside, a dirt-streaked desk, a wire trash can, and a cardboard box stuffed with empty costume pieces and props. Plastered upon the walls were old drawings of the mascots of an old pizzeria, and matching figurines rested upon the desk. The remains of a brown bear animatronic suit hung outside the only doorway. Wires hung from the ceiling like tangled clusters of vines.

For the past four nights, Cloud Strife had played a demented game of cat and mouse meets speed chess with a possessed spring animatronic throughout Fazbear's Fright: The Horror Attraction, all the while, dealing with shoddy gadgetry and charred phantoms. After all he had been through with AVALANCHE and beyond, this seemed like a cakewalk to him. The hard part for him was dealing with the strange, antique video games he had found himself imagining in each night, from an obese balloon handler giving balloons to children to a glitched golden bear finding an exit.

At that moment, the phone rang for the fifth-and what he hoped the last-time that week.

"Hello? Hello? Um, this is just a reminder of company policy concerning the safe room. The safe room is reserved for equipment and/or other property not being currently used and is in fact a safety location for employees only. This is not a break room, and should not be considered a place for employees to hide and/or congregate - and under no circumstance should a customer ever be taken into this room and out of the main show area. Management has also been made aware that the spring Bonnie animatronic has been noticeably moved. We would like to remind employees that this costume is not safe to wear under any circumstances. Thank you and remember to smile; you are the face of Freddy Fazbear's Pizza."

Cloud sighed and turned to the ritzy security monitor and whirred it to life.

2 AM

Once more, it defaulted to a view of the tattered silhouette of a golden rabbit-like animatronic suit in what appeared to be an arcade room. Soon, the camera view fizzled with static, and when it passed, the animatronic was gone. Flipping through the security cameras, he noted that the tattered animatronic was moving toward the air vents in another room. His eyes roved to the "Play Audio" box on the screen, and he tapped it with his finger.

The recorded boy's laughter momentarily deterred the animatronic, but he knew that it was only a matter of time before the devices would break down once again. As he tried to flip to another camera view, the monitor went black. "error," flashed a line of red text at the top left corner. Thus, he lowered the monitor and trotted to the maintenance panel, but his way was barred by what appeared to be the burnt visage of a decayed animatronic fox with an eyepatch over its right eye.

"HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH" it hissed as it lunged into Cloud's face and then just as quickly vanished, but as Cloud tried to gather his bearings...

"HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH" hissed a decayed animatronic chicken as it waddled into his face and then just as quickly vanished.

"Okay, that's new," said Cloud to himself, trying to reboot all the systems at once on the maintenance panel.

He groped at his shoulder to what he thought was the sound of footsteps outside the office while he waited for the maintenance panel to finish rebooting the systems but then remembered that his trusty buster sword was back at his apartment.

"Of course," he sighed.

4 AM

Once again, the systems went offline, this time as Cloud had just sealed the vents leading to the office, thus barring the rogue animatronic's entry. As he flipped up the maintenance panel and rebooted all the systems once more, he peeked into the doorway and saw a faint shadow moving. He tensed up, sprinted to the security monitor, and pulled it up to see the rogue animatronic standing in a room a short distance away from the office, responding by playing the audio device once more. To his invisible relief, the animatronic slinked away to the source of the noise.

Flipping through the cameras once more, Cloud eventually found a poster with a thin, wiry scarecrow-like Puppet hanging from the walls. As he tapped the monitor to clear its view of the poster, his eyes flashed with the latest of a series of crude visions of what he guessed was the sorry story of the establishment.

Therein sat a crying child's ghost, walking through a playroom hallway with a huge birthday cake in its hands. Each green chair it passed housed a similarly spectral child. At last, the ghost reached a table encircled by five children, all wearing animatronic masks reminiscent of Freddy Fazbear's Pizza's infamous animatronics. It set the cake down on the table and watched as all the children vanished, leaving the masks behind, the nearby balloons floating away.

Cloud shook his head clear of this vision, unsure of what to make of it. He decided to perish the thought for the time being and focus on lasting the rest of the night, ever on the watch for more burnt phantoms that may distract him from the threat of the rogue animatronic.

6 AM

The doorbell of the morning signaled the end of Cloud's fifth-and last-night at Fazbear's Fright: The Horror Attraction. Management offered to move him to the day shift, but he refused.

OVERTIME

As he walked away, one final video game vision filled his sight: a crying child's ghost leading a purple man to his doom in a golden spring rabbit animatronic...

* * *

Next time on Fazbear's Gauntlet...

_The maiden of the stars hushed her little star-shaped companion..._


End file.
